J] 


FINDING    A  WAY    OUT 

^Autobiography 


Finding  a  Way  Out 

Autobiography 


Robert   Russa   Moton 


Garden  City  New  York 

Doubleday,    Page  &  Company 

1920 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THAT  OF 

TRANSLATION  INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES, 

INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 


PREFACE 

THE  story  that  is  recorded  here  is  written  only  at 
the  repeated  and  urgent  solicitation  of  those  of  my 
friends  who  have  known  me  best,  and  have  in 
sisted  that  the  telling  of  it  would  serve  a  useful 
purpose,  especially  at  this  time,  in  helping  to  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  hopes  and  aspirations 
of  my  own  people  and  the  difficulties  which  they 
have  overcome  in  making  the  progress  of  the  last 
fifty  years  which  has  been  so  frequently  described 
as  "the  most  remarkable  of  any  race  in  so  short  a 


time." 


There  is  no  other  justification,  I  am  sure,  for 
telling  a  story  that  is  so  simple  and  lacks  so  many 
of  those  elements  which  compel  interest  and  hold 
attention.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  do  not  believe 
it  to  be  very  different  in  its  main  outline  from  the 
story  of  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of  other 
coloured  men  who  have  found  their  way  out  of  the 


417303 


vi  PREFACE 

difficulties  which  face  the  average  Negro  youth  in 
the  midst  of  American  life. 

I  have  tried  to  record  the  events  that  have  given 
character  and  colour  to  my  own  life,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  reflect  the  impressions  made  upon  my 
mind  by  experiences  that  I  could  not  always  recon 
cile  with  what  I  had  learned  of  American  ideals 
and  standards.  In  doing  this  I  have  also  found 
the  opportunity  to  acknowledge  the  kindly  advice 
and  help  that  have  come  to  me  from  hundreds  of 
friends  among  men  and  women  of  both  races  and 
sections,  and  of  every  walk  in  life. 

Whatever  of  labour  and  pains  may  have  gone 
into  this  story,  I  shall  feel  amply  repaid  if  it  en 
courages  any  member  of  my  race  to  greater  faith 
in  himself,  as  well  as  in  other  selves,  both  white  and 
black;  and  shall  help  him  to  make  his  life  count 
for  the  very  most  in  meeting  and  solving  the  great 
human  problem  which  we  in  this  country  call  the 
"race  problem/5 

And  I  shall  be  further  repaid  if  it  shall  have  some 
slight  part  in  leading  any  youth  of  the  white  race 
to  follow  the  example  of  other  members  of  his  own 


PREFACE  vii 

race  of  both  North  and  South,  and  dedicate  himself 
to  the  service  of  human  welfare  in  securing  justice 
and  a  fair  opportunity  for  the  humblest  American 
citizen,  whatever  his  race  or  colour,  to  the  end  that 
the  white  man  of  the  North,  the  white  man  of  the 
South,  and  the  Negro  shall  work  harmoniously  to 
gether  in  bringing  forward  that  Peace  on  Earth 
which  results  when  men  have  Good  Will. 

R.  R.  MOTON. 

Tuskegee  Institute, 
Alabama, 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  FACE 

I .     OUT  OF  AFRICA 3 

II.     ON  A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION 16 

III.  THROUGH  RECONSTRUCTION 39 

IV.  DOING  AND  LEARNING 50 

V.  A  TOUCH  OF  REAL  LIFE  .......  77 

VI .     ENDING  STUDENT  DAYS 104 

VII.     BLACK,  WHITE,  AND  RED 120 

VIII.     WITH  NORTH  AND  SOUTH 153 

IX.     FROM  HAMPTON  TO  TUSKEGEE 188 

X.     AT  TUSKEGEE 209 

XI.     WAR  ACTIVITIES 234 

XII.  FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH  .     .     .  266 

INDEX 291 


IX 


FINDING    A  WAY    OUT 

^Autobiography 


FINDING  A  WAY  OUT 

An  Autobiography 
CHAPTER  I 

OUT   OF   AFRICA 

ABOUT  the  year  1735  a  fierce  battle  was  waged 
between  two  strong  tribes  on  the  west  coast  of 
Africa.  The  chief  of  one  of  these  tribes  was  counted 
among  the  most  powerful  of  his  time.  This  chief 
overpowered  his  rival  and  slaughtered  and  cap 
tured  a  great  number  of  his  band.  Some  of  the  cap 
tives  escaped,  others  died,  others  still  committed 
suicide,  till  but  few  were  left.  The  victorious  chief 
delivered  to  his  son  about  a  dozen  of  this  forlorn 
remnant,  and  he,  with  an  escort,  took  them  away 
to  be  sold  into  slavery.  The  young  African  pushed 
his  way  through  the  jungle  with  his  bodyguard 
until  he  reached  the  coast.  Arrived  there,  he 
sold  his  captives  to  the  captain  of  an  American 

3 


FIND ING      A      WAY      OUT 

slave  ship  and  received  his  pay  in  trinkets  of  va 
rious  kinds,  common  to  the  custom  of  the  trade. 
Then  he  was  asked  to  row  out  in  a  boat  and  in 
spect  the  wonderful  ship.  He  went,  and  with  the 
captain  and  the  crew  saw  every  part  of  the  vessel. 
When  it  was  all  over  they  offered  him  food  and  he 
ate  it  heartily.  After  that  he  remembered  no  more 
till  he  woke  to  find  himself  in  the  hold  of  the  ship 
chained  to  one  of  the  miserable  creatures  whom  he 
himself  had  so  recently  sold  as  a  slave,  and  the 
vessel  itself  was  far  beyond  the  sight  of  land. 

After  many  days  the  ship  arrived  at  the  shores 
of  America;  the  human  cargo  was  brought  to 
Richmond  and  this  African  slave  merchant  was 
sold  along  with  his  captives  at  public  auction  in  the 
slave  markets  of  the  city.  He  was  bought  by 
a  tobacco  planter  and  carried  to  Amelia  County, 
j  Virginia,  where  he  lived  to  be  a  very  old  man.  This 
man  was  my  grandmother's  great-grandfather. 

According  to  the  story  as  he  told  it  to  my  grand 
mother,  he  brought  more  at  auction  than  any  other 
member  of  the  party.  He  was  a  very  fine  specimen 
of  physical  manhood,  weighing  somewhere  around 
two  hundred  pounds,  and  standing  about  six  feet 

4 


OUT      OF      AFRICA 

two  inches  in  height.  My  grandmother  said  of 
him  that  he  learned  very  little  of  the  English 
language  and  used  that  little  always  with  a  pro 
nounced  foreign  accent.  He  never  grew  to  like 
America  or  Americans,  white  or  black;  and  cer 
tain  days,  after  the  passing  of  so  many  moons,  he 
observed  religiously  throughout  his  life.  These 
were  feast  days  with  certain  ceremonies  of  their 
own,  in  which,  when  possible,  two  other  members 
of  that  same  party  though  not  of  his  tribe  would 
join  him.  Each  understood  the  tribal  language 
of  the  others.  These  days,  so  my  grandmother 
said,  which  occurred  about  three  times  a  year,  his 
owner  permitted  him  to  take  off,  leaving  him  un 
disturbed,  for  at  other  times  he  was  entirely  faith 
ful  and  conscientious  in  his  work.  His  great- 
granddaughter — my  mother's  mother — was  not,  I 
should  judge,  very  unlike  this  great-great-great 
grandfather  of  mine,  for  in  her  youth  she  was  a 
magnificent  typeof  womanhood,  both  physicallyand 
mentally;  and  even  to  her  death,  at  ninety-six  years 
of  age,  she  was  possessed  of  remarkable  physical  and 
mental  vigour.  She  "carried  the  keys"  on  her 
owner's,  Doctor  Craddock's,  plantation,  and  stood 

5 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

next  on  the  female  side  of  the  household  to  his  wife, 
superintending  the  making  of  the  clothes,  caring 
for  the  children  on  the  plantation,  and  in  later 
years  conducting  what  would  in  the  present  day  be 
called  a  Day  Nursery;  that  is,  caring  for  the 
children  of  the  mothers  who  were  in  the  field,  see 
ing  to  their  food  and  dress,  and  to  their  conduct,  of 
course.  Frequently  these  old  mothers  were  very 
clever  in  story  telling,  so  that  "Uncle  Remus," 
"Brer  Fox,"  and  "Brer  Rabbit"  were  familiar 
to  the  children  of  the  South,  both  white  and  black, 
many  years  before  they  got  into  print. 

My  father's  mother,  who  lived  to  be  108  years  old, 
was  also  brought  directly  from  Africa,  and  was 
finally  sold  to  a  planter  who  lived  in  Charlotte 
County,  Virginia.  It  was  there  my  father  was 
born.  He  was  owned  by  Doctor  Alexander  of 
that  county,  and  when  he  died,  about  1850,  and 
the  estate  was  divided,  my  father  was  sold  to  John 
Crowder  of  Prince  Edward  County/  and,  I  think, 
presented  to  his  wife  as  a  Christmas  present.  I 
have  many  times  heard  my  father  tell  of  his  ex 
periences  as  a  slave;  of  the  many  hardships  through 
which  he  passed,  and  of  the  many  good  times  he  had 

6 


OUT      OF      AFRICA 

even  as  a  slave,  for  one  of  the  fortunate  traits  of 
t  the  Negro  is  his  jovial  nature,  his  ability  to  see 
humour  even  in  adversity,  and  to  laugh  and  sing 
under  almost  any  circumstances.  I  have  often 
thought  that  most  other  races,  had  they  gone 
through  the  difficulties  which  the  Negro  faced, 
would  have  produced  much  more  insanity  than  has 
been  found  in  the  past  among  Negroes;  unfor 
tunately,  however,  insanity  is  increasing  very  much 
indeed  among  my  people,  an  indication  in  all  prob 
ability  that  they  are  taking  life  much  more  seri 
ously  than  they  have  done  in  the  past. 

There  were  many  kind  masters  during  slavery 
days;  and  there  must  have  been  such  a  thing  as 
kindness  even  between  master  and  slave.  The  over 
seers  who  were  generally  of  the  poorer  class  of  white 
people  were,  as  a  rule,  the  cause  of  much  of  the  con 
tention  and  usually  made  most  of  the  trouble;  at 
least  the  Negroes  thought  so.  They  were  night  patrol- 
lers,  or,  as  the  Negroes  called  them, "  patter-rollers/' 
and  were  paid  by  the  hour  in  many  places  to  catch 
and  whip  any  slave  found  off  his  master's  planta 
tion  after  nightfall  without  a  pass.  Not  infre 
quently  these  people  received  from  the  master 

7 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

class  less  consideration  even  than  the  slave,  and  in 
most  cases  the  bitterest  animosity  and  hatred  ex 
isted  between  the  overseers  and  the  slaves.  It  was 
not  unusual  that  Negroes  considered  themselves 
superior  in  every  respect  to  the  overseer  class, 
whose  members  were  generally  referred  to  among 
them  as  "po'h  white  trash."  This  expression  was 
"the  last  word"  in  degradation,  infamy,  and  gen 
eral  contempt  that  Negroes  could  command. 
Even  to-day,  when  Negroes  refer  to  people  as  "poor 
white  trash,1'  it  has  a  meaning  all  its  own,  and  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  much  of  the  ill  feeling  between 
the  races  in  our  country  to-day  had  its  origin  in 
these  unpleasant  relations  between  overseer  and 
slaves  before  Emancipation. 

On  the  Crowder  plantation  there  was  an  over 
seer  who  had  a  particular  dislike  for  my  father, 
probably  because  he  thought  that  my  father  re 
ceived  entirely  too  much  consideration  from  his 
master  and  mistress;  in  short,  there  was  a  kind  of 
jealous  rivalry  between  them.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  say  that  the  dislike  on  the  part  of  the  over 
seer  was  generously  reciprocated  by  my  father. 
If  there  was  any  difference,  it  was  that  the  hatred 

8 


OUT      OF      AFRICA 

on  my  father's  part  was  the  stronger — if  that  were 
possible;  and  without  doubt,  being  in  the  confi 
dence  of  his  master,  he  used  his  opportunity  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  overseer.     It  was  the  rule  of 
the  plantation  that  no  slaves  except  such  as  the 
master  designated  should  be  whipped  by  the  over 
seer.   My  father,  of  course,  was  thus  exempted.  On 
one  occasion  the  overseer,  unfortunately,  and  against 
the  order  of  his  employer,  insisted  upon  whipping 
my  father.     The  scene  took  place  in  a  tobacco 
barn  where  my  father  was  engaged  with  perhaps 
fifty  other  slaves  in  sorting  and  stripping  tobacco. 
In  the  scuffle,  in  which  several  other  slaves  helped 
the  overseer  in  response  to  his  call,  my  father  easily 
got  the  upper  hand,  for  he  was  a  man  of  unusual 
strength.     He  not  only  overpowered  the  overseer 
but  the  men  who  undertook  to  assist  him,  maiming 
the  overseer  and  one  of  the  men  very  seriously. 
This  was  in  the  midst  of  a  severe  snow  storm.   My 
father  took  the  only  course,  as  it  seemed,  that  was 
open  to  "obstreperous"  slaves — he  took  to  the 
woods.     This  was  in  early  December.     Here  he 
remained,  picking  up  what  food  he  could  at  nights 
in  cabins  and  elsewhere,  until  March,  when,  for 

9 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

want  of  food  and  sufficient  clothing,  his  feet  having 
been  frost  bitten,  he  was  obliged  to  give  in.  He 
returned  one  snowy  afternoon,  slipped  into  the 
stable,  and  hid  himself  in  the  loft  under  the  hay. 
His  hat  was  discovered  by  his  master's  two  sons 
whose  conversation,  which  he  overheard,  showed 
that  they  were  afraid  of  him.  They  ran  to  the 
house  and  told  their  father  of  his  return,  and  he 
came  out  to  the  barn  and  urged  him  to  come  to 
the  house  and  be  looked  after,  for  the  entire  family 
was  really  very  fond  of  him.  He  was  taken  back 
to  the  house  where  his  mistress,  the  mother  of  the 
two  boys,  treated  him  most  kindly.  Indeed,  he 
said,  they  all  wept  over  his  pitiable  condition. 
His  feet  were  finally,  but  only  after  careful  nursing 
for  several  months,  in  shape  to  permit  him  to  re 
sume  his  usual  duties.  He  promised  that  he  would 
not  commit  the  same  offence  again,  provided, 
however,  no  "po'h  white  trash5'  attempted  again 
to  whip  him.  He  apologized  to  the  overseer,  and 
the  two  agreed  that  there  would  be  no  further 
trouble.  But  a  few  weeks  afterward  he  went  to 
his  master  and  told  him  he  was  very  sorry  it  was 
not  possible  for  him  to  get  along  with  that  overseer 

10 


OUT      OF      AFRICA 

and  asked  that  his  master  sell  him  to  a  near-by 
planter,  who  had  agreed  to  give  him  better  treat 
ment.  This  time  it  would  appear  that  he  and  the 
master  came  very  near  the  "parting  of  the  ways." 
This  seems  strange,  I  know,  but  it  was  not  infre 
quent  that  slaves  of  the  more  intelligent  type  would 
make  definite  arrangements  with  some  near  or 
distant  planter  to  buy  them;  thus  slaves  very  often 
picked  their  own  masters.  But  in  this  case  Mr. 
Crowder  made  it  plain  to  him  that  they  could  get 
along;  that  he  was  unwilling  to  sell  him;  that  he  be 
longed  especially  to  his  mistress  and  that  she 
depended  on  him.  My  father  insisted,  however, 
that  the  overseer  be  discharged.  Whether  his 
attitude  in  this  case  produced  the  desired  result 
my  father  did  not  know,  but  in  any  case  within 
a  few  weeks  the  objectionable  overseer  left  and  a 
new  overseer  took  his  place,  who  established  better 
relations,  not  only  as  between  himself  and  my 
father,  but  with  the  other  slaves  as  well,  in  con 
sequence  of  which  the  master  got  better  and  more 
efficient  service  with  very  much  less  friction. 

From  that  time  forward  my  father  lived  pleas 
antly  on  the  Crowder  plantation,  neither  he  nor 

ii 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

the  master  nor  the  overseer  breaking  their  mutual 
promise — my  father's  being  that  he  would  not 
fight  again  unless  someone  attempted  to  whip  him; 
and  the  overseer's,  that  he  would  not  attempt  to 
whip  him.  My  father  used  to  say  that  one  man 
could  not  chastise  another,  although  two  men 
might  fight  and  one  might  get  the  better  of  the 
other.  That  idea  was  very  strong  in  his  mind. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  my  father  went 
with  Mrs.  Crowder's  brother — Captain  Womack  of 
Cumberland  County,  Virginia,  who  was  after 
ward  Colonel  Womack — into  the  fray  as  his  "  body 
servant."  I  think  they  would  say  "valet"  to-day. 
He  was  with  him  during  the  first  three  years  of 
that  bitter  struggle,  suffering  all  the  privations  and 
hardships  so  familiar  to  those  who  know  what  the 
Southern  Army  endured. 

One  experience  he  used  often  to  relate  was  that 
near  Petersburg  he  accidentally  got  within  the  Union 
lines  and  was  told  that  he  might  remain  with  the 
Yankees  if  he  so  desired ;  but  he  told  them  that  he 
could  not  do  so  at  the  time  because  he  had  given  his 
definite  promise  that  he  would  stand  by  Colonel 
Womack  until  the  war  was  over.  He  could  not 

12 


O  UT      OF      AFRICA 

break  his  promise.  He  had  also  sworn  to  sec  to  it, 
so  far  as  he  could,  that  no  harm  came  to  his  master 
and  he  felt  that  he  would  remain  true  to  that 
pledge  so  long  as  Colonel  Womack  was  equally  true 
to  his  promises  to  him.  I  am  told  that  the  friend 
ship  between  the  two  men,  one  black,  one  white, 
was  very  strong;  that  nothing  ever  separated  them 
save  Colonel  Womack's  death  which,  as  I  recall  my 
father's  account  of  it,  occurred  in  one  of  the  famous 
charges  near  Petersburg. 

When  the  war  was  over  my  father  "hired  him 
self"  to  the  Crowders,  where  he  remained  until 
Christmas  of  1866  when  he  married  my  mother, 
Emily  Brown.  They  were  married  in  the  old 
plantation  house  of  the  Hillmans  of  Amelia 
County.  The  Hillmans,  as  I  recall,  were  Scottish 
Presbyterians  and  like  many  other  Southerners,  had 
lost  everything  during  the  war  except  their  name 
and  honour  and  the  pride  of  aristocratic  ancestry. 

My  mother,  like  her  own  mother,  was  a  woman  of 
very  strong  character  in  many  ways,  very  much 
like  my  father.  Among  my  early  recollections  is 
the  fact  that  my  mother  frequently,  after  working 
in  the  field  all  day,  would  hurry  us  through  the 

13 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

evening  meal  in  order  to  get  the  cabin  ready  for 
the  night  school  which  met  regularly  in  our  simple 
home.  I  recall  now  the  eagerness  with  which  some 
twenty-five  or  thirty  men  and  women  struggled 
with  their  lessons,  trying  to  learn  to  read  and  write 
while  I  was  supposed  to  be  asleep  in  my  trundle 
bed,  to  which  I  had  been  hurried  to  make  room  for 
this  little  band  of  anxious,  aspiring  ex-slaves,  some 
of  whom  came  as  far  as  six  miles  in  order  to 
take  advantage  of  this  rare  opportunity  which 
but  a  few  years  before  had  been  denied  them. 
The  teacher  of  this  night  school  was  my  mother's 
brother,  who,  in  spite  of  the  penalties  attached,  had 
learned  to  read  and  write  from  his  young  master, 
picking  up  here  and  there  snatches  of  information 
while  they  played  and  worked  together,  ofttimes 
without  the  young  master's  realizing  the  gravity 
of  his  actions.  All  this  took  place  but  a  few  years 
after  the  close  of  the  war  and  before  any  schools  had 
been  established  for  coloured  or  white  children  in 
that  section.  My  mother  was  one  of  the  most  en 
thusiastic  of  the  students,  while  my  father,  who  was 
much  older  than  my  mother,  although  giving  his 
unqualified  approval  and  encouragement  to  the 

14 


OUT      OF      AFRICA 

school,  sat  by  and  listened  and  once  in  a  while 
in  a  mischievous  mood  threw  in  an  ejaculation 
which  upset  the  order  and  dignity  of  the  school, 
much  to  the  embarrassment  and  annoyance  of  the 
teacher  and,  I  fear,  sometimes  to  the  indignation 
of  the  more  serious-minded  students,  especially  my 
mother. 

Thinking  of  the  experiences  through  which  my 
ancestors  passed,  along  with  thousands  of  other 
slaves,  in  their  contact  with  the  white  people  of 
America,  I  have  often  felt  that  somehow — in  spite 
of  the  hardships  and  oppression  which  they  suf 
fered — that  in  the  providence  of  God,  the  Negro, 
when  all  is  summed  up  dispassionately,  has  come 
through  the  ordeal  with  much  to  his  credit,  and  with 
a  great  many  advantages  over  his  condition  when  he 
catered  the  relationship.  The  white  man,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  reaped  certain  disadvantages  from 
which  the  whole  country  still  suffers  and  from  which 
it  will  probably  take  several  generations  to  re 
cover  completely. 


CHAPTER  II 

ON    A   VIRGINIA    PLANTATION 

IN  JANUARY,  1867,  my  father  hired  himself  to  Mr. 
Samuel  Vaughan  of  Prince  Edward  County,  and 
was  made  foreman  or  "head  man"  on  the  Vaughan 
plantation  while  his  family  continued  to  live  in 
Amelia  County.  It  was  in  Amelia  County  that  I 
was  born  on  the  26th  day  of  August  of  the  same 
year.  Among  my  earliest  recollections  is  one  of 
my  father  appearing  on  a  Saturday  morning  with 
a  team  of  four  mules  hitched  to  a  large  farm  wagon 
in  charge  of  a  coloured  man,  Beverley  Jones,  who 
rode  one  of  the  mules.  My  father  and  my  mother, 
assisted  by  friends,  packed  our  few  belongings  into 
this  wagon  and  took  me  with  my  mother  to  the 
Vaughan  plantation  in  Prince  Edward  County 
where  my  father  had  been  working.  I  remember 
perfectly  the  long  drive  and  how  they  wrapped 
me  in  an  old  gray  blanket  and  a  blue  military 
overcoat — which  were  very  common  in  those  days 

16 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

— in  order  to  protect  me  from  the  bitter  cold. 
Here  in  an  old  house,  in  the  rear  of  a  Virginia 
mansion  known  as  "Pleasant  Shade,"  I  spent 
most  of  the  years  of  my  early  youth.  My  mother 
for  many  years  was  cook,  and  my  father  "led 
the  hands"  on  the  plantation.  It  was  here  that  I 
caught  my  first  glimpses  of  real  culture  and  got 
my  first  inspiration  as  to  what  I  would  like  to  be 
and  something  of  what  I  would  like  to  do. 

On  account  of  my  parents'  relation  to  the  house 
hold,  and  because  I  was  the  only  child  near  the  "big 
house,"  I  naturally  received  much  attention  from 
the  Vaughan  family.  I  can  never  forget  Mrs. 
Vaughan — "Miss  Lucy"  we  called  her,  as  was  the 
custom  not  only  among  the  coloured  people  but 
among  the  white  fplks  also — and  her  three  daughters, 
Misses  Patty,  Jennie,  and  Mollie.  I  was  soon 
big  enough  to  carry  Miss  Lucy's  key  basket.  This 
was  considered  a  great  honour  for  a  small  Negro 
t>oy  before  the  war  and  immediately  afterward. 
I  felt  the  "dignity  and  responsibility"  of  my  office. 
As  I  grew  older  my  duties  increased  until  I  assisted 
her  and  her  daughters  in  the  care  of  the  fowls,  of 
which  she  had  a  great  number — turkeys,  geese, 

17 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ducks,  and  a  great  many  chickens.  But  proud 
as  I  was  of  these  duties,  I  have  never  since  so 
sincerely  envied  any  one  his  position  as  I  did  Sam 
Reed,  the  general  house  boy  and  waiter  in  the 
family.  Miss  Lucy  had  promised  me  that 
when  Sam  was  big  enough  he  would  be  trans 
ferred  to  the  farm,  as  was  the  custom,  and  I  could 
have  his  place.  Sam  helped  the  cook,  made  all  the 
fires,  was  in  the  "big  house"  much  of  the  time,  and 
generally  wore  "  good  clothes."  He  was  a  favourite 
on  the  plantation.  Besides  all  this,  Sam  was  a 
remarkable  acrobat.  He  could  turn  somersaults, 
stand  on  his  head,  turn  a  cart  wheel,  go  wheel 
barrow  fashion,  and  could  perform  what  were  to  me 
many  very  wonderful  acrobatic  feats,  in  addition 
to  being  a  wonderfully  good  reel  and  jig  dancer 
and  a  remarkably  fine  singer.  He  must  have  in 
herited  his  ability  to  sing  from  his  father,  "Uncle 
Jim/'  who  was  a  noted  "shout  singer"  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Sam  was  not  a  "  Christian "  and 
so  sang  anything;  and  he  did  it  very  effectively. 
Under  Sam's  direction  I  practised  many  of  his  ac 
complishments,  and  with  his  careful  tutelage  be 
came  a  close  second.  As  a  result,  he  and  I  were 

18 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

frequently  called  into  the  "big  house"  to  perform. 
But  there  was  one  thing  I  had  against  Sam.  He 
grew  so  slowly  it  seemed  that  I  would  soon  be  big 
ger  than  he,  and  would  lose  my  chance  to  get  his 
place  when  he  should  be  sent  on  to  another.  For 
tunately  for  me,  but  perhaps  unfortunately  for  Sam, 
his  father  now  insisted  that  it  was  time  for  him 
to  leave  the  house,  as  he  considered  him  too  old  to 
devote  himself  to  "doing  chores ";  and  being  only  a 
house  boy,  his  pay  was  too  small.  He  would  earn 
more  by  working  on  the  farm.  So  Sam  had  to  go. 
I  never  shall  forget  the  joy  I  felt  when  told 
that  I  was  to  wait  on  the  table  at  breakfast  the 
following  morning,  and  how  Sam  and  my  mother 
instructed  me  until  late  in  the  night  how  to  per 
form  my  new  duties ;  how  I  should  stand ;  and  how 
to  all  appearances  I  was  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
conversation.  I  remember  how  they  sat  at  the 
table  and  had  me  pass  things — empty  plates  and 
dishes — I  do  not  recall  whether  from  the  right 
or  left  side,  but  judge  now  it  must  have  been  from 
the  left.  In  any  case,  I  got  through  my  first  day 
with  some  show  of  success  and  proved  myself  fairly 
equal  to  my  new  responsibilities.  As  a  compli- 

19 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ment  to  the  honours  of  the  post,  the  young  ladies 
at  the  house  made  me  a  couple  of  suits  which  I 
should  wear  only  on  special  occasions.  I  think 
I  have  never  had  a  position  since  then  in  which  I 
took  any  more  pride  than  in  this  youthful  promo 
tion  to  the  place  to  which  I  had  aspired  for  several 
years.  Yet  there  was  more  in  my  position  than 
was  at  first  apparent.  "Mr.  Willie"  Vaughan, 
the  only  son,  I  took  in  many  things  as  a  model.  I 
copied  his  laugh,  his  walk,  his  dress,  the  way  he 
handled  his  knife  and  fork,  and  other  characteristic 
manners  of  his  in  a  fashion  that  must  have  some 
times  amused  those  who  observed  me.  But  aside 
from  its  humorous  aspects,  this  contact  with  the 
Vaughan  family  meant  for  me  a  certain  kind  of 
most  valuable  training  and  education. 

About  this  time  a  rather  interesting  incident 
happened.  While  my  work  was  new,  my  mother 
made  me  devote  an  hour  at  night  to  my  blue- 
backed  Holmes's  Primer.  She  was  my  teacher, 
being  one  of  the  very  few  coloured  women  in  our 
neighbourhood  who  could  read  at  all.  There  was 
a  popular  belief  that  the  Vaughans,  notwithstanding 
their  kindness  and  aristocratic  ideas,  objected  to 

20 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

and  opposed  Negroes'  reading  and  writing.  My  v 
mother  was  very  careful,  therefore,  that  they  should 
not  know  that  she  was  teaching  me  to  read,  or  even 
that  she  herself  could  read.  For  several  years  she 
had  kept  from  them  the  fact  that  she  even  knew 
one  letter  of  the  alphabet  from  another;  but  one 
night  after  the  day's  work  was  done  there  was  a 
gentle  rap  at  the  door  of  our  two-roomed  house. 
I  remember  that  we  were  sitting  before  a  big,  open 
fire — my  father,  my  mother,  and  I — my  mother 
teaching  me  by  the  light  from  the  fire.  As  the 
custom  was  in  those  days  my  mother  called  out 
to  learn  who  was  there.  Imagine  our  consterna 
tion  when  the  answer  came  back:  "Miss  Lucy." 
My  mother  was  tempted  to  hide  the  book  when 
she  discovered  who  was  at  the  door,  but  my  father 
objected,  saying  we  were  free  and  that  he  would 
leave  the  Vaughans  if  they  made  any  objections; 
that  he  could  find  plenty  of  work  at  good  pay  at 
any  one  of  a  dozen  plantations  in  the  district.  So 
the  door  was  opened  and  in  walked  "Miss  Lucy", 
to  find  us  in  the  very  act.  She  expressed  the  great 
est  surprise  when  she  discovered  what  was  taking 
place,  but  she  astonished  us  equally  when  she 

21 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

indicated  that  she  was  very  much  pleased,  and  com 
mended  my  mother  on  the  fact  that  she  could  read 
and  told  her  she  was  very  wise  to  teach  her  son 
to  read.  The  next  day  we  were  even  more  aston 
ished  and  of  course  pleased  when  Miss  Mollie, 
her  youngest  daughter,  said  to  my  mother  that 
Mrs.  Vaughan  had  asked  her  to  give  me  a 
lesson  for  one  hour  every  afternoon  and  to  do  the 
same  for  my  mother  if  my  mother  would  care  to 
have  her  do  so.  So  the  next  time  my  father  went 
to  Farmville,  eight  miles  away,  he  bought  the 
necessary  books  both  for  my  mother  and  me, 
and  my  lessons  began  in  a  more  systematic  way 
with  Miss  Mollie  as  teacher  and  my  mother  as 
my  "classmate"  for  one  hour  each  afternoon.  My 
mother  finally  dropped  out  but  I  continued  for  some 
time,  though  intermittently. 

One  of  the  saddest  recollections  of  my  childhood 
was  the  death  of  Mrs.  Vaughan.  I  can  never  for 
get  the  impression  it  made  upon  me,  the  wailing 
of  the  coloured  women  on  the  plantation  and  the 
sadness  of  the  coloured  men.  There  must  have  been 
between  three  and  four  hundred  people  on  the 
Vaughan  estate,  including  men,  women,  and  chil- 

22 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

dren.  Mrs.  Vaughan,  like  her  husband,  possessed  a 
very  beautiful  character  and  was  beloved  of 
everybody  on  the  plantation.  While  I  did  not 
then  appreciate  the  full  gravity  of  the  situation, 
I  wept  along  with  the  others;  for  in  spite  of  my  youth 
I  realized  somewhat  the  loss  that  this  death  was  to 
me  as  well  as  to  others.  For  there  was  not  a  family 
on  the  plantation  and  scarcely  a  person  who  had 
not  at  some  time  been  helped  by  her  kindly  per 
sonal  attention  to  their  needs  and  difficulties. 
Several  years  later  Mr.  Vaughan  was  married 
again — to  Miss  Pattie  Perkinson,  a  daughter  of  Cap 
tain  Perkinson,  the  head  of  another  of  Virginia's 
fine  families,  who  owned  a  large  estate  a  Tew 
miles  away.  I  confess  that  I  did  not  entirely  ap 
prove  of  the  marriage.  The  truth  of  the  matter  was 
I  shared  the  feelings — perhaps  in  less  degree — of 
most  of  the  people  on  the  plantation,  especially 
the  women;  though  my  own  feelings  were  more 
personal  than  general.  I  was  not  so  worried  about 
the  marriage  itself  as  I  was  anxious  that  whoever 
took  "Miss  Lucy's"  place  should  not  interfere 
with  the  position  I  was  occupying  in  the  Vaughan 
household.  I  was  certain  that  no  one  could  be  so 

23 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

kind  as  "Miss  Lucy"  had  been  to  me,  and  I  felt  sure 
that  "Miss  Pattie"  would  not  be:  and  what  I  had 
heard  of  the  dealings  of  certain  members  of  her 
family  with  coloured  people  rather  tended  further 
to  disquiet  than  to  allay  my  youthful  anxiety 
about  my  own  future.  My  position  at  this  time 
in  the  Vaughan  household  was,  in  my  mind,  of  a 
very  important  sort.  I  was  doing,  so  I  supposed, 
just  about  as  I  wished,  and  running  things  much 
to  my  own  liking.  I  carried  the  keys  all  day  and 
hung  them  at  the  head  of  Mr.  Vaughan's  bed  the 
last  thing  at  night.  I  issued  the  corn  for  the  stock 
and  frequently  helped  in  weighing  the  rations  to 
the  scores  of  men  who  came  up  Saturday  afternoon 
for  their  allowances.  I  went  hunting  with  Mr. 
Vaughan,  visited  the  rabbit  traps  in  the  morning, 
and  also  went  fishing  with  him  on  the  Appomattox 
River.  He  rode  a  magnificent  bay  mare  we 
called  Fannie,  while  I  rode  a  mule,  blind  in  both 
eyes,  named  Kit.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore, 
that  I  should  have  been  more  or  less  jealous  of  my 
position  and  anxious  that  the  new  mistress  of  the 
house  should  be  of  a  kind  to  meet  my  approval, 
for  by  this  time  the  three  daughters  had  all  married 

24 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

and  only   Mr.   Vaughan's   son,   Mr.    William    S. 
Vaughan,  was  left. 

My  mother  was  still  the  cook,  and  my  father  was 
running  things  as  headman  on  the  farm,  but  neither 
my  father  nor  my  mother  counted  very  much  in  my 
mind  so  far  as  this  situation  was  concerned;  indeed 
Mr.  Vaughan  and  his  son  did  not  count  very  much, 
looking  at  it  from  the  mental  angles  of  my  youth.  I 
was,  however,  very  pleasantly  surprised  when  "Miss 
Pattie"  came  to  "  Pleasant  Shade."  The  things  that 
had  been  prophesied  regarding  her  were  not  ful 
filled.  She  did  not  take  the  keys  from  me  and  I 
had  just  about  as  much  leeway  as  before,  in  some 
respects  more.  She  was  more  careful  than  the 
men  folks  had  been  about  setting  the  table 
and  cleaning  the  house,  pulling  up  weeds,  the 
clearing  of  the  garden,  and  such  things.  She  made 
me  sweep  off  the  porches  once  and  sometimes  twice 
or  three  times  a  day — I  had  gotten  to  the  place 
where  I  swept  them  perhaps  twice  and  sometimes 
only  once  a  week.  And  besides  all  this,  the  new 
Mrs.  Vaughan  insisted  that  my  mother  should 
continue  my  lessons ,  and  encouraged  me  in  various 
other  ways. 

25 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

In  the  fall  following  this  important  event  a 
school  was  opened  for  coloured  children  a  few  miles 
from  the  Vaughan  plantation.  This  was  the  first 
school  for  Negroes  in  that  neighbourhood;  indeed 
the  first  school  of  any  kind,  for  there  had  been  no 
public  schools  of  consequence  for  either  white  or 
coloured  children  before  that  time.  In  the  fall  of 
the  previous  year  the  coloured  people  had  been 
urged  to  vote  with  the  promise  that  if  they  did  so 
a  public  school  for  their  children  would  be  estab 
lished  in  our  district.  They  voted  according  to 
instructions  and  the  promise  was  kept. 

In  early  October  a  free  school  was  opened  for 
coloured  people,  with  Mr.  John  Morrisette,  a 
white  man,  as  teacher.  My  father  and  my  mother 
decided  that  I  should  go.  They  consulted  the 
'Vaughans,  particularly  Mrs.  Vaughan.  She  read 
ily  approved.  Forthwith  she  and  my  mother  fitted 
me  out  and  I  appeared  in  school  the  opening  day. 
I  recall  how  I  felt  when  I  observed  that  there  were 
so  many  children  bigger  than  myself  who  could  not 
read.  Because  of  my  instruction  at  home  I  was 
in  the  highest  class  in  the  school.  And  I  had 
special  pride  in  the  fact.  I  think  I  was  reading  in 

26 


ON      A      VIRGINIA       PLANTATION 

the  third  reader.  But  reading  at  all  by  a  coloured 
boy  in  those  days  was  rather  unusual;  and  a 
coloured  free  school,  with  fifty  or  sixty  children 
on  the  opening  day,  and  meeting  in  the  daytime 
as  well,  was  a  real  marvel.  Mr.  Morrisette,  who,, 
by  the  way,  had  been  an  officer  in  the  Southern 
Army,  was  most  kind  and  thoughtful  and  very 
patient,  and  took  a  great  deal  of  care  and  pains, 
even  on  the  opening  day,  to  classify  us.  He 
brought  many  books  of  various  kinds,  and  his  wife, 
who  was  a  very  unusual  woman,  came  in  later  to 
help  him  in  the  difficult  task  of  organizing  this  large 
number  of  Negro  children  into  a  real  school.  His 
task  no  doubt  was  a  hard  one,  not  only  because  of 
the  children  directly,  but  because  of  the  parents  as 
well,  many  of  whom,  as  time  went  on,  troubled 
him  very  much.  All  of  us  naturally  thought  the 
more  books  the  student  carried  the  more  he  knew, 
and  many  parents  were  therefore  willing  to  get  the 
fourth,  fifth,  and  even  the  sixth  reader  for  their 
children  without  any  protest  at  the  expense  so 
long  as  they  were  carrying  "bigger"  and  "higher" 
books.  My  father  shared  this  feeling  along  with 
the  rest.  He  was  not  altogether  happy  at  my 

27 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

having  only  a  third  reader;  but  Mrs.  Vaughan,  who 
knew  what  I  was  doing,  came  to  the  rescue  and 
assured  him  that  I  would  have  "bigger"  books  in 
ample  time,  and  that  I  would  probably  learn  more 
than  many  others  who  had  many  more  books. 

I  continued  my  work  in  the  Vaughan  family, 
before  and  after  school,  at  intervals  for  many  years, 
and  without  doubt  what  I  learned  from  my  con 
tact  with  them  was  worth  quite  as  much  to  me  as 
what  I  learned  at  school.  Indeed,  my  own  idea  has 
always  been  that  the  one  supplemented  the  other. 
My  work  before  and  after  school  was  being  cor 
related  unconsciously  with  what  I  was  learning 
in  books;  which  was  true  also  of  my  contact  with 
the  nearly  four  score  children  whom  I  met  daily  at 
school. 

The  Vaughans  were  of  the  finest  type  of  South 
ern  families — kind,  thoughtful,  and  generous.  They 
were  people  of  considerable  wealth  and  at  the  top 
of  the  social  scale  in  that  community;  but  at  the 
same  time  they  were  of  all  the  white  people  the 
most  popular  among  the  Negroes  of  the  neighbour 
hood.  They  visited  Negro  churches  and  prayer- 
meetings,  and  Negroes  frequently  visited  the  old 

28 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

Jamestown  Presbyterian  Church  to  which  the 
Vaughans  belonged  and  of  which  Mr.  Vaughan,  I 
think,  was  an  elder,  as  was  also  his  son  in  later 
years.  For  many  years  they  conducted  Sunday 
School  in  the  afternoon  at  Jamestown  Church  for 
coloured  people.  This  school  was  taught  by  the 
leading  ladies  of  the  community  with  the  help  of 
some  of  the  leading  white  men.  In  this  connec 
tion  it  is  significant  that  the  Vaughans  never  suf 
fered  for  want  of  adequate  and  faithful  help  on  the 
farm  or  in  the  household,  and  it  is  certain  that  their 
influence  on  the  coloured  people  on  their  place  and 
in  that  section  was  of  the  best.  This  was  true 
of  them  in  that  day.  It  is  equally  true  to-day  of 
their  three  daughters  and  was  true  of  their  son  and 
his  wife,  both  of  whom  have  died  within  the  last 
few  years.  The  Vaughans  never  lost  any  prestige 
or  social  standing  in  the  community  by  being  kind 
and  helpful  to  coloured  people. 

The  pastor  of  the  Jamestown  Presbyterian 
Church,  to  which  I  have  referred,  was  the  Rev. 
George  H.  Denney,  a  minister  who  lived  in 
Amelia  County,  some  twenty  miles  away,  and 
usually  came  to  the  community  on  Saturday  after- 

29 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

noons  in  a  sulky.  He  generally  made  his  home 
with  the  Vaughans,  remaining  over  from  Saturday 
until  Monday.  Occasionally  he  came  earlier  or 
remained  later  for  certain  special  services.  I  was 
always  glad  to  have  him  come,  even  though  it 
added  to  my  duties  somewhat,  because  of  the  extra 
shoes  to  polish  and  the  extra  pail  of  water  that  I 
had  to  bring  from  the  spring  some  distance  away. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  very  kind  to  me;  it  was 
he  who  gave  me  the  first  Bible  that  I  ever  had  and 
took  pains  to  interpret  certain  passages  with  which 
I  had  become  somewhat  familiar  but  whose  mean 
ing  was  as  yet  rather  vague  to  me.  But  my  joy 
at  his  coming  lay  in  the  fact  that  frequently, 
especially  in  the  summer  season,  he  brought 
with  him  his  son  George.  He  was  of  about  my 
own  age  which  accounted  for  our  having  many 
good  times  together.  Sometimes  we  were  joined 
by  Ernest  Morton,  another  white  boy,  and  Lee 
Brown,  a  coloured  boy,  but  George  and  I  were 
especially  friendly.  Many  a  day  he  would  sit  at  the 
table  with  the  family  and  I  would  be  keeping  the 
flies  off  and  waiting  on  the  table,  when  we  would 
wink  at  each  other  and  make  plans  as  to  what  we 

30 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

would  do  when  dinner  was  over  and  my  other  work 
done.  Often  he  would  pitch  in  and  help  me  through 
and  then  off  we  went  fishing  on  Sailor  Creek, 
famous  for  one  of  the  skirmishes  between  Lee  and 
Grant,  on  the  way  to  Appomattox  after  the  evac 
uation  of  Richmond. 

We  not  only  enjoyed  our  boyish  play,  but  we 
worked  many  examples  in  arithmetic  together  and 
discussed  history  as  well.  I  remember  that  we  dif 
fered  frequently.  One  of  the  discussions  we  used  to 
have  most  often  was  about  which  was  the  greater 
general,  Grant  or  Lee.  He  was  for  Lee;  I  for  Grant. 
We  often  discussed  the  merits  of  the  conflict  betwen 
the  states,  which  culminated  in  the  war.  I  could 
never  swerve  him  from  his  position  on  this  question 
and  he  never  swerved  me  from  mine.  We  never 
found  it  profitable  to  discuss  this  issue.  He  would 
sometimes  lose  his  temper,  and  I  frequently  lost 
mine.  There  came  a  time  when  we  ceased  to  dis 
cuss  it  at  all  and  I  think  our  relations  were  conse 
quently  very  much  pleasanter.  He  had  a  most 
excellent  father  and  the  son  was  of  the  same  type 
— very  bright,  always  frank,  always  generous — and 
he  never  swerved  in  his  friendship  for  me. 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

I  sometimes  feared  that  the  Vaughans  and  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Denney,  George's  father,  were  a  lit 
tle  annoyed  that  he  preferred  apparently  to  be 
out  in  the  fields  where  I  was  with  the  cows  and 
sheep,  or  even  to  help  me  with  my  chores,  to  being 
in  the  house  among  the  guests — for  the  Vaughan 
household  was  a  very  popular  meeting  place  for 
young  people  and  old.  It  was  a  great  social  centre 
and  the  scene  of  many  parties. 

Mr.  Vaughan's  death,  which  occurred  about  this 
time,  made  everything  different  at "  Pleasant  Shade" 
thereafter.  The  farm  was  divided  among  the  chil 
dren.  Most  of  the  coloured  people  moved  away. 
My  father  went  to  live  with  a  family  of  Mortons  who 
were  by  marriage  connected  with  the  Vaughan  fam 
ily.  Mr.  J.  X.  Morton,  who  afterward  became  a  pro 
fessor  at  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  had  a  son 
Ernest,  to  whom  I  have  referred.  Our  friendship 
grew  stronger;  indeed  he  left  parents  and  every 
thing  else  to  be  with  my  coloured  chum  Lee  and 
with  me,  and  we,  in  the  same  spirit,  neglected  every 
thing  that  we  could  with  impunity,  in  order  that 
the  three  of  us  could  be  together.  We  fished  and 
hunted  together  and  engaged  in  many  boyish  sports 

32 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

and  pranks.  Nothing  in  his  possession  was  too 
good  for  us,  and  nothing  in  ours  was  too  good  for 
him.  As  we  grew  older  my  father  did  not  wholly 
approve  of  this  intimacy,  and  used  often  to  say 
that  we  were  "too  thick  to  thrive."  In  the  course 
of  time  there  did  come  a  parting.  Ernest  went  off  to 
school  and  my  chum  Lee  and  I  were  left  on  his 
father's  farm.  The  weeks  immediately  following 
his  leaving  for  the  Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute 
were  dull  and  dreary  for  us  at  home.  This  I  think 
was  in  October.  I  continued  to  work  on  the  farm, 
for  I  was  now  too  big  for  chores,  and  went  to  school 
when  the  weather  did  not  permit  working  on  the 
farm.  I  was  anxiously  awaiting  the  Christmas 
holidays  when  our  friend  Ernest  would  return 
and  we  would  again  have  some  good  times  to 
gether.  He  would  tell  us  no  doubt  of  his  college 
experiences  and  we  had  some  experiences  that  we 
could  relate  to  him.  At  last  the  day  came.  Lee 
and  I  were  at  the  house  when  they  brought  him 
in  the  carriage  from  Rice's  Depot.  His  father  and 
one  of  his  sisters  had  gone  to  meet  him.  He  had 
with  him  also  his  room-mate,  I  think,  who  had  come 
to  spend  the  holidays  with  him.  They  both  wore 

33 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

gray  uniforms  with  brass  buttons.  Lee  and  I,  as 
soon  as  Ernest  alighted  from  the  carriage,  rushed  up 
to  shake  hands.  He  not  only  did  not  shake  hands 
with  us  but  his  manner  was  as  cold  and  frigid  as 
the  north  wind  that  we  were  breathing.  He  did 
bow,  but  it  was  quickly  done.  Lee  went  home.  I 
went  into  the  kitchen  with  Aunt  Viny,  the  cook. 
I  was  feeling  bad;  so  was  Lee.  I  was  thinking. 
Sometimes  I  wonder  if  I  ever  thought  quite  as 
seriously  on  life  as  I  did  that  night.  A  few  mo 
ments  later  he  came  out  into  the  kitchen  in  his 
splendid  spick-and-span  uniform  with  brass  but 
tons  and  polished  shoes.  Aunt  Viny,  the  old 
cook  of  sixty  or  seventy  years,  rushed  up  to  him 
and  threw  her  arms  around  him,  exclaiming,  "My 
chil'!  My  chiF!"  and  he  in  turn  threw  his  arms 
around  her.  He  was  not  more  demonstrative  to 
ward  his  mother;  in  fact,  not  even  so  much  so,  be 
cause  his  mother  was  not  so  demonstrative  as  the 
cook.  I  sat  unhappy,  puzzled,  thinking.  Finally, 
through  the  darkness  of  the  night,  I  stole  down 
through  the  ravine,  across  the  brook,  and  up  to  our 
cabin  on  the  hill.  I  went  to  bed  early  that  night. 
My  father,  who  always  saw  and  realized  much  more 

•    34 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

than  he  ever  expressed,  asked  me  the  one  question 
that  I  did  not  care  to  have  him  ask,  and  he  made  just 
the  one  ejaculation  which  cut  keen  and  deep.  He 
said,  "Did  you  see  Ernest?"  "Yes,  Sir,''  I  said. 
"What  did  he  say  to  you?"  "Nothing,"  said  I.  "I 
told  you  to  stay  away  from  there,"  he  said.  I  made 
no  answer.  He  said  no  more.  He  knew  how  I  felt, 
for  he  probably  imagined  what  had  happened.  I 
went  immediately  to  bed,  as  I  have  said,  earlier 
than  was  my  custom,  and  I  think  remained  in  bed 
later  next  morning,  but  I  slept  less  than  usual.  I 
was  thinking  that  night.  I  arose  next  morning  more 
weary  than  when  I  went  to  bed;  but  I  was  wiser 
and  more  resolute  than  ever  before  in  my  life.  I 
went  through  my  usual  day's  work  on  the  farm  and 
looked  after  the  hogs  for  the  Mortons,  and  did  what 
I  had  to  do  with  reference  to  the  feeding,  but  did 
not  go  to  the  house  except  as  I  was  obliged  to  do. 
I  met  Ernest  and  his  chum  face  to  face.  I  looked 
the  other  way.  I  do  not  think  they  noticed  where 
I  was  looking.  I  am  sure  they  did  not  care.  I 
was  trying  to  snub  them  both.  It  had  no  effect, 
so  far  as  I  could  judge,  on  either.  But  before 
going  to  bed  the  following  night  I  had  firmly  re- 

35 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

solved  that  getting  an  education  was  the  best  thing 
toward  which  I  could  bend  my  efforts  in  the  future. 
The  next  morning  I  asked  my  father  about  the 
school  for  coloured  people,  which  was  being  pro 
jected  under  the  influence  of  General  Mahone  at 
Petersburg,  now  a  State  Normal  School.  He  told 
me  much  about  it.  It  was  to  open  the  follow 
ing  fall.  The  Hon.  John  M.  Langston,  he  said,  a 
coloured  man  who  was  as  well  educated  as  any  white 
person  that  he  knew  of,  was  to  be  the  president. 
He  said  I  might  go  if  I  wished  and  that  he  would 
do  what  he  could  to  help  me.  It  being  a  state 
school,  and  he  having  certain  strong  friends  in  the 
Republican  Party  (General  Mahone  among  them), 
Hon.  B.  S.  Hooper,  a  member  of  Congress  from  the 
Fourth  Congressional  District  of  Virginia,  would 
probably  arrange  for  me  to  have  a  scholarship.  He 
also  told  me  much  about  Hampton  Institute  but  he 
was  not  enthusiastic  about  my  going  to  Hampton. 
He  said  Hampton  was  a  "work  school"  and  that 
he  could  teach  me  as  much  about  work  as  Hampton 
could;  but  as  he  thought  I  could  go  to  Hampton 
without  any  money,  he  would  permit  me  to  go 
if  I  insisted,  though  it  was  against  his  inclinations. 

36 


ON      A      VIRGINIA      PLANTATION 

During  the  winter  I  did  much  thinking,  and  much 
talking,  too,  with  those  people  whose  judgment  I 
thought  I  could  trust,  about  going  to  school,  either 
at  Hampton  or  at  Petersburg.  Mention  was  also 
made  of  some  other  schools.  Captain  Frank  South- 
all,  whose  brother,  Dr.  J.  W.  Southall,  was  later  Su 
perintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  Virginia, 
learned  through  some  source  that  I  contemplated 
going  to  school.  He  had  somehow  been  impressed 
with  my  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  my  interest 
in  the  Sunday  School  by  my  attendance  at  the  after 
noon  Sunday  School  at  the  Jamestown  Presbyterian 
Church,  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  of  which 
he  was  superintendent.  He  wanted  me  to  go  to  a 
school  at  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama,  to  fit  myself  for 
the  ministry  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  said 
he  would  gladly  arrange  this  and  that  the  entire 
expense  would  be  provided.  This  did  not  appeal 
to  me  very  much,  because  I  was  unwilling  to 
sign  an  agreement  that  I  would  enter  the  ministry 
or  join  the  Presbyterian  Church.  All  of  my 
people  were  Baptists  and  we  were  living  in  a 
strongly  Baptist  community,  that  is,  so  far  as 
Negroes  were  concerned.  The  Negroes,  at  least 

37 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

in  my  community  at  that  time,  looked  with  more 
or  less  suspicion  upon  the  religion  of  white  people 
anyway,  and  the  feeling  between  denominations 
was  strong;  so,  while  I  was  determined  to  get  an 
education,  I  replied  that  I  preferred  to  be  an 
ignorant  Baptist  rather  than  an  educated  Presby 
terian.  In  my  youthful  zeal  I  told  others  of  the 
offer  I  had  had  from  Captain  Southall  and  of  my 
determination  to  keep  the  faith,  repeating  the 
expression  that  I  preferred  being  an  ignorant 
Baptist  rather  than  an  educated  Presbyterian,  and 
this  expression  never  failed  to  bring  forth  much  ap 
proval  and  applause  from  the  coloured  people  of 
the  community. 


CHAPTER  III 

THROUGH    RECONSTRUCTION 

THE  following  spring  I  joined  a  party  of  young 
men  and  secured  work  in  Surry  County  in  a  lum 
ber  camp  near  the  James  River.  My  hope  was  to 
save  sufficient  money  to  pay  my  way  through 
school.  I  had  talked  very  frankly  with  my  friends 
regarding  schools,  and  had  about  decided  that  I 
would  enter  the  school  at  Petersburg.  I  worked  in 
this  camp  about  two  years,  and  succeeded  in  mak 
ing  my  way  up  successively  from  piling  lumber, 
through  the  grade  of  an  experienced  tree  chopper — 
which  meant  that  I  had  a  pretty  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  the  quality  of  lumber  in  a  tree  before  it 
was  cut  down,  knowing  by  certain  definite  signs 
evident  to  a  lumberman  whether  a  tree  was  sound 
or  decayed — to  the  post  of  foreman  of  a  squad, 
having  in  charge  the  sorting  and  grading  of  lumber. 

One  is  apt  to  think  of  seventy-five  or  more  lumber 
men  as  a  rough,  lawless,  and  undesirable  group, 

39 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

fitted  only  for  the  heavy  work  connected  with 
lumbering.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  were  a  few 
rough  men,  who,  in  every  sense,  lived  up  to  that 
reputation,  but  in  the  Ferguson  camp  there  was  a 
large  number  of  honest,  hard-working,  thrifty  men 
who  came  mostly  from  Prince  Edward,  Amelia, 
and  Dinwiddie  counties  in  Virginia.  Many  of 
them  were  ambitious  for  schooling.  Some  few  had 
had  some  experience  in  politics  and  therefore  kept 
posted  on  what  was  going  on  in  Virginia. 

The  "Readjuster  Movement"  had  just  been  in 
troduced.  This  had  caused  the  fusion  of  many 
Republicans  and  Democrats  into  what  was  known 
as  the  Readjuster  Party.  We  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  the  people  native  to  Surry  County; 
the  truth  of  the  matter  was,  they  didn't  permit  us 
to,  because  of  our  reputation.  A  few  of  us  went 
to  Sunday  School  and  attended  church  services 
at  Cypress  Baptist  Church,  five  miles  away,  and  got 
somewhat  into  the  social  life  of  the  coloured  com 
munity.  Beyond  this  a  number  of  the  men,  in 
order  to  spend  their  leisure  time  profitably,  organ 
ized  a  debating  club,  holding  at  intervals  a  mock 
court  or  a  mock  assembly,  copying  as  nearly  as  we 

40 


THROUGH      RECONSTRUCTION 

could  the  Virginia  Legislature.  Almost  every  night 
in  the  week  there  was  something  going  on  in  con 
nection  with  some  one  of  these  organizations. 

I  remember  one  man  from  Dinwiddie  County, 
George  Edwards,  who  had  for  many  years  served 
as  magistrate  in  his  precinct.  He  was  reasonably 
well  educated  and  had  been  a  school  teacher.  He 
was  well  versed  in  politics  and  everything  else 
that  had  to  do  with  public  affairs  in  Virginia.  He 
it  was  who  guided  us  for  the  most  part  in  these 
activities.  There  were  others  almost  as  well 
trained.  I  think  I  have  never  had  any  experience 
I  enjoyed  any  more  than  the  winter  nights  in  that 
camp;  and  I  got  from  this  experience  a  certain 
sort  of  training  that  I  have  since  in  many  ways 
found  very  useful.  I  got  also  a  taste  for  politics 
and  other  civic  affairs  that  might  have  changed 
my  career  but  for  certain  conscientious  scruples 
of  my  mother's. 

I  recall  also  how  shocked  we  were  at  the  tidings 
that  President  Garfield  had  been  shot.  When  we 
later  learned  of  his  death,  we  thought  it  proper  to 
•uspcnd  all  public  activities  in  the  camp  for  a  week 
as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  President. 

41 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Evening  meetings,  especially  on  Saturdays, 
brought  out  sometimes  large  numbers  of  local  peo 
ple,  white  and  coloured;  and  the  manager  of  the 
camp  became  so  well  pleased  with  the  effect  that 
he  gave  us  Saturday  afternoon  once  a  month,  and 
invited  many  people  from  surrounding  communi 
ties  as  well  as  from  other  saw-mills — and  there  were 
many  saw-mills  in  the  neighbourhood — to  witness 
these  monthly  public  exercises. 

During  the  two  years  that  I  spent  in  that  camp 
in  Surry  County,  I  saved  comparatively  little 
money;  but  I  got  something  from  the  work  itself, 
and  the  intimate  contact  with  this  group  of  men — 
the  debating  societies,  the  glee  club,  the  prayer 
meetings,  and  other  activities — which  has  had  a 
very  strong  influence  upon  my  later  life. 

An  attack  of  malaria  fever  made  it  necessary  for 
me  to  leave  this  marshy  section  on  the  James  River. 
At  the  doctor's  suggestion  I  returned  to  my  home  in 
Prince  Edward  County.  My  return  home  was  in 
the  late  summer  of  1882  and  I  found  the  political 
atmosphere  very  "thick  and  heavy."  I  was  asked 
frequently  to  speak  at  political  mass  meetings,  and 
I  pitched  in  with  vigour,  taking  up  the  cudgels 

42 


THROUGH      RECONSTRUCTION 

for  the  "Readjuster  Movement/'  about  which, 
however,  I  knew  little.  This  was  a  movement  on 
the  part  of  the  Fusion  Party  for  the  readjustment 
of  the  state  debt.  All  Negroes  had  a  vote  in  those 
days.  Negro  Democrats  were  very  few,  only  about 
a  half  dozen  or  so  being  found  in  a  county.  I  re 
member  the  impression  created  on  the  mass  of  col 
oured  people — and  white  people,  too,  for  that  matter 
— when  I  appeared  at  a  picnic  in  the  Vaughan  woods 
and  made  a  surprisingly  effective  political  speech. 
I  knew  little  about  the  subject,  and  was  as  much 
surprised  as  any  one  at  the  impression  made  and 
the  enthusiasm  over  my  speech  displayed  by  the 
large  number  of  people  present.  But  the  impres 
sion  was  so  strong  that  when  the  meeting  was  over 
I  was  taken  aside  by  three  or  four  white  men  and 
as  many  coloured,  who  decided  then  and  there  that 
I  should  have  the  nomination  for  the  Lower  House 
of  the  State  Legislature  from  my  district.  They 
decided  what  the  ticket  should  be;  that  there  should 
be  certain  white  men  and  myself  as  the  one  coloured 
man.  I  was  especially  urged  to  this  step  by 
Walker  Blanton,  a  shrewd,  keen,  coloured  man,  who 
did  not  know  one  letter  of  the  alphabet  from  the 

43 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

other,  but  who  was  nevertheless  the  political  leader 
of  the  district  among  the  coloured  people  and 
withal  a  very  useful  citizen.  I  was  inclined  to 
accept  the  proposition,  but  there  were  one  or  two 
strong  obstacles  in  the  way.  One  was  that  I  had 
planned  to  go  to  school,  but  the  really  serious  one 
was  that  I  was  not  yet  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
The  white  people  in  the  group  said  that  they  could 
arrange  the  age  situation,  that  nobody  could 
prove  exactly  when  I  was  born,  and  that  I  was  large 
and  mature  in  appearance,  so  that  question  would 
hardly  arise  in  any  case;  and  one  gentleman  in  the 
group  said  that  he  knew  my  mother  and  father  and 
the  whole  family  connection  and,  moreover,  had  the 
family  Bible  record  of  all  of  them,  so  that  he  could 
easily  adjust  them  in  a  way  that  would  stand  any 
test.  The  coloured  men  were  equally  zealous, 
making  their  plea  on  the  ground  that  I  had  more 
education  than  any  coloured  man  in  the  precinct, 
which  was  enough;  that  I  could  at  least  read  and 
write  and  figure,  and  that  was  not  true  in  Virginia 
of  all  the  legislators  even.  The  temptation  was 
very  great.  I  had  just  about  decided  to  accept. 
Everything  was  to  be  arranged  by  the  leaders  of  the 

44 


THROUGH      RECONSTRUCTION 

Readjuster  Party  in  the  county.  The  only  thing 
then  left  would  be  the  formal  notification  a  few 
weeks  afterward.  But  my  mother  when  approached 
said  that  she  could  not  raise  my  age,  and  would 
be  unwilling  to  swear  to  anything  but  the  truth; 
that  she  knew  exactly  the  day  and  year  and  hour 
of  my  birth.  My  father  was  non-committal.  He 
felt  that  my  mother  was  too  conscientious  and  that 
there  were  lots  of  probabilities  of  her  being  mis 
taken,  and,  too,  that  she  would  be  perfectly  safe 
in  saying  she  was  not  absolutely  sure  and  leaving 
it  to  the  white  people  to  settle  the  rest.  But 
my  mother  stood  firm,  so  the  committee,  finding 
that  they  could  not  get  her  to  agree  to  sign  the 
affidavit,  concluded  that  the  matter  was  at  an  end. 
Another  coloured  man  was  nominated  and  later 
elected.  I  confess  I  was  somewhat  relieved  and 
not  very  sorry  that  my  mother  had  taken  such  a 
firm  stand.  To  be  sure  there  was  some  disap 
pointment,  but  I  am  confident  that  I  slept  better 
as  a  result  of  my  mother's  decision. 

About  this  time  a  young  man  by  the  name  of 
Edward  D.  Stewart,  a  graduate  of  Hampton  In 
stitute,  came  to  teach  in  the  school  in  our  dis- 

45 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

trict  which  I  had  attended  at  intervals  for  some 
years.  I  was  able  to  get  from  him  first-hand  in 
formation  about  Hampton.  He  gave  me  facts 
regarding  the  inner  working  of  the  school:  how  a 
student  could  enter,  the  kind  of  work  he  would  do, 
the  studies  he  would  have,  and  something  of  what 
the  men  accomplished  after  graduating.  He  felt 
sure  that  I  would  have  no  difficulty  in  entering  and 
in  completing  the  course  of  studies.  He  thought 
my  greatest  difficulty  would  be  in  overcoming 
the  popularity  which  I  had  achieved  in  my  home 
community.  He  suggested  that  I  would  have  to 
put  all  that  behind  me  and  assume  that  I  did  not 
know  so  much  as  I  thought  I  did  or  as  others  in  my 
community  thought  I  did.  He  feared  it  would 
be  difficult  for  me  to  adapt  myself  to  the  discipline 
of  the  school  at  Hampton.  I  was  at  this  time 
leader  of  the  church  choir,  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  School,  and  might  have  been  a  deacon, 
but  was  considered  too  young  for  that  particular 
place.  In  some  ways  I  was  considered  a  very  im 
portant  man  in  what  was  then  a  rather  backward 
community. 

I  wrote  to  General  Armstrong,  the  principal  of 

46 


THROUGH      RECONSTRUCTION 

Hampton,  my  letter  being  endorsed  by  Mr.  Stewart. 
General  Armstrong  gave  me  an  immediate  reply 
in  his  own  handwriting,  saying  that  I  might 
come  to  Hampton  and  work  in  the  knitting  room. 
Mr.  Stewart  advised  that  I  had  better  wait  until 
I  could  get  work  on  the  farm  at  Shellbanks  or  at 
the  saw-mill.  He  knew  something  of  my  knowledge 
of  lumber  and  experience  in  farming,  stock-raising, 
and  similar  lines.  He  advised  against  my  learning 
to  knit  mittens  or  working  in  the  house  under  any  ) 
circumstances.  He  had  the  feeling  that  knitting- 
room  boys  at  Hampton  did  not  succeed  very  well, 
for  some  fell  into  bad  ways,  a  good  many  were 
disciplined  severely,  and  a  few  suspended.  So, 
at  his  suggestion,  I  wrote  asking  that  I  might  have 
a  place  either  on  the  farm  or  at  the  saw-mill,  which 
work,  I  considered,  was  better  adapted  to  my  size 
and  strength.  Not  long  afterward  I  received  a  let 
ter  to  the  effect  that  I  might  come  and  that  they 
would  find  satisfactory  work  for  a  boy  who  showed 
such  good  sense  in  his  choice  of  occupation. 

I  took  my  departure  on  Sunday  morning  from 
the  cabin  where  we  were  then  living.  The  night 
before  I  was  given  a  "party.0  It  would  be  called 

47 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

a  "reception"  now.  To  be  sure,  it  was  in  a  log 
cabin  and  there  were  a  great  many  people  present. 
The  young  folk  indulged  in  games  of  various 
kinds  but  the  older  ones,  the  church  members 
especially,  took  the  whole  matter  more  seriously. 
I  recall  that  just  before  we  parted  there  were  many 
speeches.  They  were  all  crude,  as  I  think  of  it 
now,  yet  I  have  seldom  witnessed  a  more  sincere 
and  touching  farewell  reception.  Our  old  pastor, 
Armstead  Berkely,  who  was  perhaps  seventy-six 
years  of  age,  officiated  as  master  of  ceremonies. 
He  had  a  wonderfully  fine  voice,  strong  and  melo 
dious.  He  was  a  great  singer  and  had  all  the  qual 
ities  necessary  to  make  him  a  fervid,  emotional 
speaker.  I  have  known  him  at  revival  meetings 
to  offer  prayer,  and  again  and  again  I  have  seen 
educated  white  people  present  who  could  scarcely 
control  their  features  for  the  tears  which  ran  down 
their  cheeks.  He  made  the  final  speech  and  closed 
the  affair  with  a  very  earnest  and  touching  prayer; 
and  while  there  had  been  much  levity  among  the 
young  folk  the  early  part  of  the  night,  he  left 
them  all  in  a  very  serious  mood.  I  could  not  re 
spond  when  called  upon,  but  the  impression  of  the 

48 


THROUGH      RECONSTRUCTION 

sincere  affection  and  good  will  of  those  simple, 
earnest  people  with  whom  I  had  lived  from  child 
hood  has  always  remained  with  me. 

My  old  chum,  Lee  Brown,  and  a  few  friends  took 
my  little  trunk  on  a  mule  cart  next  morning,  and  we 
drove  about  five  miles  to  Rice's  Depot  where  I  took 
the  train  for  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Here  I  transferred; 
to  the  Baltimore  steamer  which  ordinarily  touched 
at  Old  Point  about  seven  o'clock  at  night.  It  so 
happened  that  because  of  a  very  severe  storm  the 
captain  of  the  steamer  decided  that  he  would 
not  touch  at  Old  Point,  so  I  was  carried  on  with 
many  other  passengers  to  Baltimore.  This  was 
entirely  against  my  wishes  and  naturally  I  was 
much  annoyed.  The  ship's  crew  were  very  kind  to 
all  of  us  and  gave  us  our  meals  and  made  no  ad 
ditional  charge  for  the  extra  trip.  This  being  my 
first  experience  on  a  steamboat,  I  suffered  the  dis 
comforts  that  are  common  to  the  average  passen 
ger  sailing  on  a  stormy  night.  I  spent  a  most 
interesting  day  in  Baltimore  strolling  around,  but 
did  not  get  very  far  from  the  wharf. 


49 


CHAPTER  IV 

DOING    AND    LEARNING 

THAT  night  I  took  the  same  steamer  on  which 
I  had  arrived  and  landed  at  Old  Point  the  following 
morning,  the  1 3th  of  October,  1885.  I  took  a  hack, 
which  carried  me  and  my  little  trunk  past  For 
tress  Monroe  and  up  through  the  little  town  of  Phoe 
bus,  then  Mill  Creek,  and  on  to  the  grounds  of  the 
Hampton  Institute.  It  was  to  me  the  most  beau 
tiful  place  I  had  ever  seen.  We  drove  up  through 
the  school  farm  past  the  old  Butler  School.  This 
was  a  school  that  had  been  built  under  the  di 
rection  of  General  Butler  during  the  Civil  War  for 
the  children  of  the  freedmen,  out  of  the  lumber 
that  had  been  used,  much  of  it,  in  hospital  bar 
racks.  We  passed  on  through  many  acres  of  vege 
tables  which  Hampton  had  cultivated,  and  past  the 
National  Soldiers'  Home  cemetery,  where  stood  some 
four  thousand  or  more  marble  headstones,  marking 
the  final  resting  place  of  men  who  gave  their  all 

50 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

to  preserve  the  Union.  It  is  interesting  that  in 
that  same  cemetery,  cared  for  by  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  there  are  many  hundreds  of  Confederate 
soldiers  also.  Looking  upon  the  well-kept  grounds 
of  the  Institute,  the  water  front,  the  neat  and  im 
posing  buildings  and  farm  lands,  I  felt  almost  as  if 
I  were  in  another  world.  A  few  mischievous  boys 
took  occasion  to  have  some  fun  at  my  expense.  They 
were  already  calling  out  "fresh  fish,"  and  two  or 
three  of  them  yanked  my  small  trunk  out  of  the 
carriage  and  balanced  it  on  their  fingers  as  waiters 
balance  their  trays  in  hotels.  Some  suggested  that 
it  weighed  ten  pounds;  others,  five.  One  little 
fellow,  by  the  name  of  Bates,  as  I  remember,  whom  I 
afterward  found  to  be  a  fine  baseball  player,  wanted 
to  bet  it  would  weigh  not  over  two  and  three  fourths 
pounds.  I  must  confess  that  the  small  trunk  was 
entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  size  of  its  175- 
pound,  eighteen-year-old,  and  somewhat  awkward, 
owner.  But  I  went  through  the  ordeal  good  na- 
turedly,  and  finally  one  of  the  older  boys  was  kind 
enough  to  show  me  to  the  office  where  I  presented 
myself  to  the  commandant,  the  Rev.  George  L. 
Curtis,  who  later  served  for  many  years  as  a  clergy- 
Si 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

man  in  Bloomfield,  N.  J.  He  sent  me  for  exami 
nation  to  Miss  Anna  G.  Baldwin,  the  head  teacher 
in  the  night  school.  She  seemed  to  me  very  cold 
and  unsympathetic,  but  I  found  afterward  that  I 
had  misjudged  her.  She  was,  in  fact,  kind  and  very 
sympathetic;  though  her  manner,  like  that  of 
many  New  Englanders,  was  cold,  austere,  and  very 
businesslike.  The  white  women  with  whom  I  had 
dealt  before  had  in  their  manner  and  speech  a 
certain  sympathetic  quality  that  put  one  rather 
at  ease  than  otherwise.  Anyhow,  I  failed  utterly 
to  pass  the  entrance  examination,  though  it  seemed 
even  at  that  time  to  be  easy.  I  think  I  was  be 
wildered.  Everything  was  new  and  confusing. 
Baltimore  experiences,  my  sea  sickness,  so  many 
students,  the  battalion  and  band — all  were  so 
strange  that  I  found  it  difficult  even  to  see  the 
print  which  was  given  me  to  read  or  the  figures 
with  which  I  was  working.  I  was  very  much  up 
set  over  my  failure.  I  returned  to  the  office  and 
handed  Mr.  Curtis  the  note  which  announced 
it.  He,  too,  seemed  very  much  disappointed.  He 
was  at  the  same  time  sympathetic  and  told  me 
frankly  that  he  was  very  sorry  that  I  had  not 

52 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

passed.  From  what  I  had  told  him  of  the  work  I 
had  done  in  school  he  had  thought  I  would  have  no 
difficulty  in  passing,  but  would  make  a  rather  high 
class.  He  passed  the  note  to  Mr.  F.  C.  Briggs, 
then  the  business  agent  of  Hampton  Institute, 
who  sat  at  a  desk  near  him.  The  two  whispered 
some  words,  to  which,  at  the  time,  I  did  not  think 
it  improper  for  me  to  listen.  Mr.  Briggs  remarked 
— and,  by  the  way,  I  thought  all  the  time  Mr.  Briggs 
was  General  Armstrong — in  an  undertone  to  Mr. 
Curtis,  "It  is  too  bad.  I  like  his  face.  He  has  a 
very  honest  look,"  adding,  "I  think  you  had  better 
keep  him  if  you  can."  Mr.  Curtis  then  turned  to 
me  with  the  words,  "Well,  young  man,  what  are 
you  going  to  do?  You  have  failed  to  pass  your 
examination  to  enter  even  the  lowest  class."  I 
told  him  that  I  had  come  to  stay  at  any  cost,  and 
that  I  thought  my  failure  was  due  to  my  new  sur 
roundings;  that  I  had  not  been  in  school  for  about 
two  years,  but  had  read  an  occasional  newspaper 
and  an  occasional  book  when  I  could  get  hold  of 
one,  but  had  done  no  work  in  arithmetic  except 
of  the  simplest  kind  and  had  written  only  an  oc 
casional  letter,  so  that  I  thought  I  was  "rusty."  He 

S3 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

wanted  to  know  if  I  had  any  objection  to  hard 
work.  I  assured  him  I  was  not  afraid  of  hard 
work,  that  I  had  worked  hard  all  my  life;  so  he 
said  he  would  give  me  a  choice  of  work,  asking 
whether  I  would  like  to  go  to  the  kitchen  or  to  the 
farm  or  whether  I  would  prefer  the  saw-mill.  As  I 
had  worked  at  a  saw-mill  and  had  some  knowledge 
of  lumber,  I  preferred  the  saw-mill,  and  was  so  as 
signed.  I  found  this  mill  much  larger  and  much 
more  complicated  than  any  I  had  seen  before. 
I  was  put  under  the  charge  of  a  student,  Edward 
R.  Jackson,  whom  the  boys  called  "Big  Jack." 
He  was  to  instruct  me  in  Hampton's  methods 
of  grading  and  piling  lumber.  I  was  also  admitted 
on  trial  to  the  lowest  class  in  the  night  school. 

On  the  second  afternoon  of  my  saw-mill  work, 
while  piling  lumber  with  Big  Jack,  the  Rev.  H. 
B.  Frissell,  the  school  chaplain  and  vice  principal, 
came  up  and  engaged  us,  or  rather  me,  in  conversa 
tion.  He  knew  Jackson,  for  Jackson  was  then  in 
what  was  known  as  the  Pastor's  Class,  the  School 
for  Bible  Study  at  Hampton,  where  he  was  then 
fitting  himself  for  the  ministry.  He  afterward 
became  a  minister  and  had  a  large  church 

54 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  where  for  many  years 
he  did  very  effective  work  as  a  teacher  and 
preacher. 

Mr.  Frissell  asked  me  many  questions:  if  I  was 
happy  at  Hampton;  whether  I  liked  the  place  and 
people.  He  inquired  about  my  home  and  family. 
His  kindly  expressed  wish  that  I  should  have  a 
successful  career  at  Hampton,  and  his  assurance 
that  I  was  in  the  midst  of  friends  made  a  deep 
impression  on  me,  and  strengthened  very  much  my 
determination  to  remain  at  Hampton  and  to  suc 
ceed,  for  that  afternoon  I  had  been  experiencing  a 
certain  kind  of  longing  for  home  that  affected  me 
more  than  at  any  time  during  my  entire  stay  at 
the  Institute.  Later  I  was  transferred  from  piling 
lumber  to  a  raft  of  logs  in  the  creek  to  get  off  the 
chains.  I  was  shown  how  to  perform  this  opera 
tion  by  another  Virginia  boy  by  the  name  of 
John  H.  Palmer.  He  went  about  his  work  very 
quietly  and  always  most  faithfully  and  steadily, 
and  as  he  showed  me  how  to  remove  the  chains 
I  was  impressed  by  his  kindness  and  patience. 
It  is  more  than  interesting  that  this  same  J. 
H.  Palmer  is  now  registrar  at  Tuskegee  Institute, 

55 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

where  for  many  years  he  has  been  just  as  kind 
and  faithful  as  an  officer  as  on  that  day  thirty-four 
years  ago  when  he  showed  me  how  to  take  the 
chains  off  of  logs  that  were  brought  from  North 
Carolina,  through  the  Dismal  Swamp,  across 
Hampton  Roads  to  the  school  saw-mill. 

I  remember  so  well  my  first  Sunday  night  at 
Hampton.  Six  hundred  or  more  students — Ne 
groes  and  Indians — with  a  hundred  or  more  white 
people,  assembled  for  evening  prayers.  A  modest, 
unassuming  gentleman,  with  a  soothing  voice,  con 
ducted  the  services.  I  do  not  remember  the 
passage  he  read,  but  there  were  two  or  three  peti 
tions  in  his  prayer  that  stirred  my  youthful  emo 
tions  and  brought  over  me  a  feeling  hard  then  and 
hard  now  to  describe.  A  few  days  before,  amid 
unattractive,  meagre  cabin  surroundings,  I  had 
bidden  good-bye  to  an  earnest,  hard-working,  de 
voted,  Christian  mother.  In  this  simple  yet 
inspiring  prayer,  Mr.  Frissell,  who  had  so  kindly 
spoken  to  me  a  few  days  before,  asked  God's 
blessing  upon  the  humble  mothers  and  fathers 
in  all  of  the  homes  represented  by  the  young 
people  before  him,  the  poorest  as  well  as  the 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

best;  and  he  prayed  that,  amid  the  pleasant 
surroundings  of  Hampton  Institute,  the  young 
people  would  always  remember  their  parents 
who  did  not  live,  all  of  them,  in  such  an 
environment  as  we  had  at  Hampton.  It  seemed 
most  strange  to  me,  amid  new  surroundings  and 
so  many  new  faces,  that  everybody  should  turn 
aside  from  work  and  study,  and  that  this  gentle 
man,  a  stranger  to  me,  should  be  thinking,  as  I 
supposed,  about  my  old  mother,  and  that  he  should 
put  in  such  beautiful  words  the  very  thoughts  and 
feelings  which  were  in  my  own  mind.  From  that 
night  I  made  up  my  mind  that  Hampton  was  a 
very  good  place  for  me  to  be,  and  from  that  night 
also  I  knew  Mr.  Frissell  was  our  friend,  that  he 
was  interested  in  all  that  concerned  us,  that  he 
was  a  man  in  whom  I  could  confide. 

The  students  sang  plantation  songs,  the  religious 
folk  songs  of  the  Negro.  I  had  been  brought  up 
on  this  kind  of  music  and  was  very  familiar  with 
many  of  the  songs  that  were  sung,  but  somehow 
there  was  something  about  this  singing — led  by  a 
tall,  very  handsome  black  man  with  a  deep  and 
melodious  baritone  voice — with  the  four  parts 

57 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

blending  almost  as  if  there  were  just  one  great 
voice  singing,  that  almost  carried  me  into  a  new 
world.  I  had  never  heard  such  singing,  but  some 
how,  notwithstanding  my  thorough  enjoyment 
of  the  music,  the  dress,  and  manner  of  the  pupils, 
and  my  real  appreciation  of  being  in  such  a 
wonderful  institution,  I  was  disappointed  to 

V-  hear  these  songs  sung  by  educated  people  and  in 
an  educational  institution.  I  had  expected  to 
hear  regular  church  music  such  as  would  be  sung 
by  white  people  mostly,  and  such  as  was  written 
as  I  supposed  by  white  people  also.  I  had  come 
to  school  to  learn  to  do  things  differently;  to  sing, 

$.  to  speak,  and  to  use  the  language,  and  of  course, 
the  music,  not  of  coloured  people  but  of  white 
people. 

One  of  my  newly  made  friends,  Thomas  B.  Pat 
terson,  who  sat  next  me  in  chapel,  and  with  whom 
I  worked  at  the  saw-mill,  and  who  to  this  day  is 
noted  for  his  frankness  of  expression,  whispered  to 
me,  saying,  "What  do  you  think  of  that  music?" 
My  reply  was,  "The  singing  is  all  right  but  this 
is  no  place  for  it."  As  the  group  of  us  walked 
on  toward  our  quarters  I  did  not  hesitate  to 

58 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

express  my  opinion  regarding  this  music  and 
most  of  the  new  boys  agreed  emphatically  with 
my  attitude.  One  or  two  of  the  older  students 
argued  that  the  songs  were  beautiful  and  people 
enjoyed  them  so  why  should  we  not  sing  them. 
The  only  reply  I  could  give  was  that  they  were 
Negro  songs  and  that  we  had  come  to  Hampton  to 
learn  something  better;  and  then,  too,  I  objected 
to  exhibiting  the  religious  and  emotional  side  of 
our  people  to  white  folks ;  for  I  supposed  the 
latter  listened  to  these  songs  simply  for  enter 
tainment  and  perhaps  amusement.  I  had  fre 
quently  seen  white  people  at  Negro  gatherings  in 
my  own  community,  and  had  the  feeling  that 
many  of  them  came  merely  to  be  entertained.  I 
remember  how  strongly  I  felt  many  years  before 
then  when  I  attended  Robinson's  circus  in  our 
little  village  of  Farmville.  I  remember  the  ani 
mals,  of  which  I  had  only  seen  pictures  before, 
and  also  the  ring  performances — fancy  riding, 
antics  of  the  clowns,  and  so  forth.  At  the  close  of 
the  main  performance  a  concert  was  announced 
and  my  last  ten  cents  was  paid  for  it.  Some 
twenty  or  thirty  men  with  faces  blackened  ap- 

59 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

peared  in  a  semicircle  with  banjos,  tambourines, 
and  the  like.  The  stories  they  told  and  the  per 
formances  they  gave  were  indeed  most  interesting 
to  me,  but  I  remember  how  shocked  I  was  when 
they  sang,  "Wear  dem  Golden  Slippers  to  Walk 
dem  Golden  Streets,"  two  men  dancing  to  the  tune 
exactly  as  it  was  sung  by  the  people  in  the  Negro 
churches  of  my  community.  This  song  was  as 
sacred  to  me  as  "Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee"  or 
"Old  Hundred."  I  felt  that  these  white  men  were 
making  fun,  not  only  of  our  colour  and  of  our 
songs,  but  also  of  our  religion.  It  took  three 
years  of  training  at  Hampton  Institute  to  bring 
me  to  the  point  of  being  willing  to  sing  Negro 
songs  in  the  presence  of  white  people.  White 
minstrels  with  black  faces  have  done  more 
than  any  other  single  agency  to  lower  the  tone 
of  Negro  music  and  cause  the  Negro  to  despise  his 
own  songs.  Indeed,  the  feeling  of  the  average 
Negro  to-day  is  that  the  average  white  man  ex 
pects  him  to  "jump  jim-crow"  or  do  the  buffoon 
act,  whether  in  music  or  in  other  things.  It  is  a 
(y  source  of  gratification,  therefore,  to  Negroes  gen 
erally  that  Fisk  University,  Hampton  Institute, 

60 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

Tuskegee  Institute,  with  many  other  Negro  educa 
tional  institutions,  have  persistently  preserved  and 
used  the  folk  music  of  their  people,  in  keeping 
with  the  spirit  of  its  origin,  thus  not  only  elevat 
ing  it  in  the  estimation  of  coloured  people,  but 
causing  others  also  to  appreciate  its  value  and 
beauty. 

A  few  Sunday  evenings  later,  when  General 
Armstrong  had  returned  to  the  Institute,  he  spoke 
in  his  own  forceful  manner  to  the  students  about 
respecting  themselves,  their  race,  their  history, 
their  traditions,  their  songs,  and  folk  lore  in  gen 
eral.  He  referred  then  to  the  Negro  songs  as 
"a  priceless  legacy,"  which  he  hoped  every  Negro 
student  would  always  cherish.  I  was  impressed 
with  him  and  with  his  address,  but  I  was  not 
entirely  convinced.  However,  I  was  led  to  think 
along  a  little  different  line  regarding  my  race. 
The  truth  is  it  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  given 
any  serious  thought  to  anything  distinctively 
Negro.  This  also  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  that 
I  had  begun  to  think  that  there  was  anything  that 
the  Negro  had  that  was  deserving  of  particular 
consideration.  This  meant  a  readjustment  of 

61 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

values  that  was  not  particularly  easy  for  a  raw 
country  lad. 

I  think  it  was  in  December  of  1885  or  late  in 
November  that  a  group  of  boys,  of  which  I  was 
one,  was  returning  from  the  Soldiers'  Home,  which 
is  separated  from  Hampton  Institute  only  by  a 
creek.  We  had  noticed,  before  going  over,  a  col 
oured  man  going  through  the  engine  room  and 
boiler  room  and  over  the  lumber  yard  looking  at 
the  machinery,  lumber,  saw-mill,  planing-mill,  etc., 
and  we  met  this  same  man  on  our  return  going 
through  the  orchard,  the  farm,  and  the  truck  gar 
den.  We  wondered  who  this  man  could  be  who 
seemed  rather  familiar  with  things  at  Hampton, 
and  at  the  same  time  appeared  to  be  very  much 
interested  in  all  the  work  of  the  place.  When 
we  went  to  chapel  that  night  this  gentleman  sat 
next  to  General  Armstrong  on  the  platform  in 
the  old  Whitin  Chapel.  There  were  many  visitors 
from  the  hotels  and  the  town  as  well  as  the 
regular  audience,  and  there  were  more  teachers 
in  chapel  than  usual.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had 
seen  a  coloured  man  on  the  speaker's  platform. 

We  were  glad,  and  took  much  pride,  as  the  Negro 

62 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

students  generally  did,  in  any  honour  that  came 
to  a  coloured  man  at  Hampton;  that  is,  any  special 
recognition  that  came  from  General  Armstrong. 

After  the  usual  devotional  exercises  General 
Armstrong,  in  his  characteristic  way,  introduced 
this  gentleman  to  the  audience.  He  presented  him 
as  Booker  T.  Washington  of  Tuskegee.  I  remember 
now  what  a  beautiful  introduction  General  Arm 
strong  gave  him.  He  spoke  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  work  at  Tuskegee  and  felt  very  sure  that 
Tuskegee  would  some  day  be  as  large  as  Hampton, 
if  not  larger,  and  he  predicted  that  Booker  T. 
Washington  would  eventually  be  recognized  as 
one  of  America's  most  distinguished  citizens.  He 
made  this  statement,  he  said,  because  he  was 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  man  of  whom  he 
was  speaking.  Booker  Washington,  he  said,  had 
been  one  of  his  boys;  that  he  had  served  as  his 
private  secretary,  and  that  he  had  recommended 
him  for  the  work  in  Alabama.  That  during  the  past 
five  years  he  had  had  wonderful  success  in  gaining 
the  good  will  of  the  white  people  and  the  coloured 
people  surrounding  the  Institute  and  that  the  North 
had  responded  to  his  appeals  for  aid.  Indeed  Gen- 

63 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

eral  Armstrong  had  given  no  one  so  strong  and,  it 
seemed  to  us,  so  flattering  an  introduction,  though 
many  distinguished  visitors  had  already  appeared 
on  that  platform  since  I  had  entered  school.  There 
was  not  much  known  then  of  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington,  though  General  Armstrong  and  others  had 
frequently  referred  to  him  and  the  work  which 
he  had  started  at  Tuskegee  in  Alabama.  Even  at 
this  time  General  Armstrong  had  pointed  him  out 
as  a  sample  of  what  he  hoped  the  Hampton  stu 
dents  would  look  forward  to  becoming  after  com 
pleting  their  education.  He  hoped  they  would 
start  schools  on  the  Hampton  plan  in  rural  com 
munities. 

While  we  were  pleased  at  the  introduction,  we 
were  anxious  that  this  coloured  man  should  meas 
ure  up  with  his  address  to  what  General  Armstrong 
said  in  the  presence  of  so  many  white  people,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  coloured  people.  It  made  us 
all  the  more  anxious  that  the  coloured  man  should 
appear  to  good  advantage,  and  I  confess,  as  I 
think  of  it  now,  the  appearance  of  the  speaker  did 
not  impress  us  strongly.  I  remember  some  boys 
whispered,  "We're  gone  to-night." 

64 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

There  is  something  pathetic  sometimes,  I  think, 
about  the  anxiety  on  the  part  of  coloured  peo 
ple  that  one  of  their  number  shall  show  up  to  good 
advantage.  The  conditions  under  which  we  live, 
the  early  predictions  that  the  Negro  would  not 
succeed,  and  the  persistent  comment  that  he  is  an 
inferior  individual,  have  created  in  the  race  an 
anxiety  and  an  earnest  desire  that  every  effort 
the  Negro  puts  forth  shall  be  of  the  best.  We 
were  especially  anxious,  therefore,  that  on  that  oc 
casion  he  should  "hit  the  bull's-eye,"  as  we  used 
to  say.  He  had  not  spoken  many  minutes  before 
all  of  our  anxiety  had  disappeared.  He  started 
off  by  telling  a  story  which  I  do  not  recall  at  this 
time,  but  I  know  it  was  something  about  eating 
partridges.  He  spoke  of  what  he  was  trying  to  do 
at  Tuskegee  Institute  and  said,  modestly,  that  he 
was  trying  to  carry  out,  as  any  graduate  should  do, 
the  ideas  of  General  Armstrong  and  Hampton. 
He  spoke  clearly  of  the  importance  and  value  of 
trade  education  and  pointed  out  the  fact  that  the 
men  who  had  learned  their  trades  in  slavery  were 
passing  and  that  white  men  were  taking  their 
places.  He  emphasized  the  importance  of  rural 

65 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

life,  buying  farms,  good  homes,  and  the  degradation 
of  one-room-cabin  life,  and  while  he  did  not  in  any 
way  belittle  college  education,  he  did  emphasize 
the  fundamental  need  of  trade  education,  the  buy 
ing  of  land,  the  building  of  homes,  bank  accounts, 
etc.  These,  he  declared,  were  essential  to  the  high 
est  development  of  any  people. 

As  I  think  of  it  now,  and  as  I  thought  of  it  then, 
we  considered  it  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
address  we  had  ever  heard,  and  coming  from  a 
coloured  man,  about  whom  we  had  felt  so  much 
anxiety,  it  was  all  the  more  impressive.  We  were 
not  expected  to  applaud  in  chapel  at  Sunday 
evening  services,  but  there  was  a  spontaneous 
outburst  of  applause  from  the  audience  when  he 
sat  down,  and  it  was  prolonged.  General  Armstrong 
arose,  remarking, "  I  am  glad  you  had  the  good  sense 
to  break  the  rule  on  such  an  occasion."  He  added, 
"This  is  for  me  as  well  as  for  you  a  very  happy 
hour."  It  is  unnecessary  to  remark  that  that 
address  was  the  talk  of  the  year  among  the  stu 
dents  and  teachers.  We  had  some  Indian  friends 
who  used  to  come  to  our  rooms  after  meetings  of 
this  sort.  I  recall  now  that  until  "taps",  some  eight 

66 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

or  ten  of  us,  with  our  Indian  friends,  discussed  that 
speech.  One  of  the  latter,  John  Archambeau, 
remarked  to  the  group  that  the  only  fault  he  found 
with  Booker  Washington  was  the  fact  that  he  was 
not  an  Indian. 

My  twelve  months'  work  at  the  saw-mill  was 
hard  and  difficult,  but  we  got  out  of  it  a  great  deal 
of  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  I,  with  my  associates, 
learned  a  great  many  things,  especially  about 
lumber  and  machinery.  I  learned  among  other 
things  to  fire  a  huge  boiler,  something  of  the  qual 
ity  of  coal,  and  how  to  get  the  most  out  of  it.  I 
learned  to  run  the  big  Corliss  engine,  much  about 
steam  fitting,  and  a  good  deal  about  carpentry 
work,  though  I  had  worked  for  a  while  as  a  car 
penter  before. 

There  were  about  twenty-two  boys  who  worked  at 
the  saw-mill  with  me  during  that  year.  The  record 
of  those  boys  since  leaving  Hampton — what  they 
have  done — would  be  interesting  reading.  Mr. 
William  T.  Westwood,  our  foreman,  an  ex  -Confede 
rate  soldier,  had  very  high  ideals  and  insisted,  fre 
quently  against  our  private  protests,  that  we  live 
up  to  his  standards  of  work  and  neatness — neat- 

67 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ness  in  piling  lumber,  as  well  as  in  our  personal 
appearance  in  overalls.  Even  to  this  day,  though 
no  longer  connected  with  the  school,  he  continues 
to  take  a  very  personal  interest  in  all  of  the  young 
men  who  come  under  his  instruction. 

I  closed  my  year  at  the  saw-mill  in  October,  1886, 
when  I  entered  the  regular  day  school.  During 
the  previous  year  I  had  worked  in  the  day  and 
attended  school  at  night.  This  was  customary 
among  students  who  did  not  have  the  means  to 
enter  the  day  school  directly.  I  had  the  choice  be 
tween  entering  the  highest  class  in  the  Junior  Grade 
or  the  lowest  class  in  the  Middle  Year;  for  I  had 
been  promoted  from  the  lowest  class  in  night  school 
after  three  months,  and  was  already  a  Junior 
in  regular  standing  in  the  school.  Inasmuch 
as  I  would  be  entering  the  higher  class  with 
two  conditions  and  the  lower  class  with  no  condi 
tions,  I  preferred  the  highest  Junior  Grade  to  the 
lowest  Middle,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  head 
teacher,  Miss  Mary  F.  Mackie,  to  whom  Doctor 
Washington  referred  in  "Up  From  Slavery"  as 
the  one  who  gave  him  that  now-famous  entrance 
examination.  But  I  knew  my  weakness  and  I 

68 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

knew  my  deficiencies  in  English  particularly,  one 
of  the  subjects  in  which  I  would  have  been  condi 
tioned;  and  I  knew  further  that  if  I  missed  the 
Junior  training,  I  would  probably  be  handicapped 
for  the  remainder  of  my  course.  It  was  also 
true  that  my  knowledge  of  geography  was  rather 
limited — I  would  have  been  conditioned  in  that 
also — so  I  made  my  choice  advisedly. 

Soon  after  this  I  was  made  an  officer  in  the 
battalion  and  was  given  charge  of  one  of  the  boys' 
buildings,  being  responsible  to  the  commandant 
for  the  physical  care  of  the  building  as  well  as  for 
the  conduct  of  its  occupants.  I  recalled  that  my 
father  yielded  under  protest  to  my  coming  to 
Hampton  as  a  work  student,  urging  me  to  wait 
another  year  while  he  and  I  saved  sufficient  money 
so  that  I  could  go  to  Petersburg  and  not  be  obliged 
to  do  work  in  the  school.  He  felt,  and  I  shared  his 
feeling  to  some  extent,  that  I  knew  all  there  was  to 
know  about  work,  but  somehow  I  discovered  dur 
ing  my  year  as  a  work  student  that  I  was  con 
stantly  running  against  new  things  and  new  ways 
of  doing  old  things:  in  the  care  of  my  own  room, 
in  the  drill,  at  the  saw-mill,  in  the  night  school; 

69 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

and  even  in  the  dining  room  and  on  the  play 
ground  my  vision  grew  continually  wider  and 
larger  and  I  became  more  skilled  in  many  ways 
with  many  and  various  things.  That  work 
year  was  a  sort  of  initiation  into  an  entirely 
new  life,  new  surroundings,  new  people,  different 
races,  new  standards,  new  ideas  and  ideals;  and  I 
have  always  been  glad  that,  in  spite  of  my  father's 
protest,  I  had  come — not  because  I  wished  to  work, 
but  rather  because  I  did  not  wish  to  delay  another 
year  in  getting  an  education — and  had  taken  this 
year  of  work  at  Hampton  Institute.  But  the  first 
year  in  day  school  was  different.  I  assimi 
lated,  perhaps  unconsciously,  many  of  these 
new  ideals.  While  I  learned  many  valuable  les 
sons  from  books  during  this  first  year,  they  were 
insignificant  as  compared  with  the  indescribable 
something  which  I  gathered  outside  of  books,  very 
real  at  Hampton,  and  very  real  to  me,  too,  which  I 
cannot  accurately  describe  in  writing,  but  which 
was  nevertheless  very  pronounced  and  very  defi 
nite. 

In  my  next  year  I  came  in  daily  contact  with  a 
half  dozen  or  more  lady  teachers  of  the  sturdy, 

70 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

austere,  exacting,  yet  very  kindly  New  England 
type;  and  while  many  of  the  subjects  which  they 
taught  were  not  entirely  new,  the  presentation 
was  so  different  and  they  brought  in  so  many 
practical,  daily-life  problems,  not  put  down  in 
books,  that  I  found  myself  for  the  first  few  months 
in  a  realm  almost  as  strange  and  different  as  my 
first  year.  One  of  the  most  striking  subjects,  as  I 
think  of  it,  was  natural  history  or  zoology,  which 
was  taught  by  Miss  Ford,  who  afterward  became 
the  wife  of  General  Armstrong.  Our  collection  of 
numerous  specimens,  the  investigation  and  dissect 
ing  of  various  insects  and  animals,  the  use  of  the  mi 
croscope,  were  all  a  constant  revelation  to  me  of  my 
dense  ignorance  concerning  the  common,  every-day 
things  with  which  I  had  been  dealing  and  about 
which  I  had  thought  I  knew  so  much.  Mrs.  Arm 
strong  was  a  wonderfully  strong  teacher,  able  to 
arouse  tremendous  enthusiasm  among  her  pupils, 
not  only  to  master  what  was  in  the  text  book,  but 
also  to  augment  this  by  their  own  investigation 
and  research  in  order  to  test  the  accuracy  of  the 
text  book.  I  think  also  that  my  work  in  mathe 
matics  under  Miss  J.  E.  Davis,  a .  graduate  of 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Vassar  College;  in  geography,  under  Miss  Mary 
E.  Coates;  in  grammar,  under  Miss  M.  J.  Sherman, 
a  graduate  of  Wellesley  College,  together  with  my 
work  under  others  made  for  me  a  most  interesting, 
inspiring,  and  helpful  year. 

I  recall,  too,  as  I  am  sure  every  Hampton  student 
does  who  came  under  their  instruction  and  care,  the 
helpfulness  of  Miss  Helen  W.  Ludlow  and  her  inti 
mate  friend,  Dr.  Martha  M.  Waldron,  the  resident 
physician  of  the  Institute,  in  many  other  things  be 
sides  books  and  studies.  Their  loyalty  to  General 
Armstrong,  and  their  devotion  to  Hampton 
through  many  years  of  service,  had  much  to  do  with 
making  the  life  and  work  of  Hampton  possible. 
I  was  not  surprised  at  the  end  of  the  year,  when  the 
announcement  was  made  of  my  name  with  many 
others  for  promotion  to  the  Middle  Class.  I  was 
so  much  impressed  with  the  life  at  Hampton,  and 
had  enjoyed  so  much  the  use  of  the  library,  where 
there  were  more  books  than  I  had  ever  seen  before 
in  one  place  (to  all  of  which  I  had  free  access,  as 
had  all  students)  that  I  asked  if  I  might  remain 
there  for  the  summer  vacation  and  be  given  work, 
the  money  that  had  been  placed  to  my  credit  during 

72 


DOING      AND      LEARNING 

my  work  year  having  been  considerably  reduced. 
I  thought  that  perhaps  by  remaining  I  would  not 
only  save  more  money  through  having  less  op 
portunity  to  spend,  but  that  I  would  also  have  the 
use  of  the  library  and  be  in  the  atmosphere  of 
educated  people,  which  was  much  to  my  liking. 
I  was  accordingly  assigned  to  work  for  the  sum 
mer,  and  was  given  more  responsibility  in  con 
nection  with  the  battalion  as  well  as  with  the 
young  men  generally.  It  proved  a  very  pleasant 
and  very  profitable  summer.  I  went  home  for  a 
vacation  of  two  weeks  in  August — my  first  trip 
away  from  the  school  since  I  had  entered  nearly 
two  years  before.  I  was  very  anxious  to  see  my 
parents  and  friends,  and,  of  course,  was  equally 
anxious,  I  think,  to  show  my  uniform  with  my 
first  lieutenant's  shoulder  straps.  Everyone  was 
glad  to  see  me,  white  as  well  as  coloured,  and 
the  older  white  people  were  especially  cordial. 
One  thing  I  noticed  which  I  could  not  at  that  time 
explain  was  that  many  of  the  young  white  men 
|  with  whom  I  had  grown  up  were  much  less  cordial 
than  their  parents,  and  frequently  they  avoided 
me  and  only  greeted  me  after  I  had  greeted  them. 

73 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

I  attended  the  church  and  the  Sunday  School  and  I 
think  I  never  had  a  more  cordial  welcome  anywhere, 
with  more  consideration,  or  one  giving  me  more  real 
pleasure,  than  that  from  these  people  at  Macedonia 
Baptist  Church,  with  which  I  had  been  connected 
in  one  way  or  another  since  its  organization.  And 
certainly  no  mother  ever  had  any  more  real  pride 
in  her  son  and  his  appearance  than  mine  at  that 
time.  It  was  hard  for  me  to  get  out  of  her  sight. 
She  insisted  on  going  with  me  almost  everywhere  I 
went. 

Returning  from  Macedonia  Church  with  my 
mother  the  first  Sunday  after  my  return,  we  were 
pleasantly  surprised  to  meet  Mr.  William  L. 
Vaughan  and  his  wife  as  they  were  driving  home 
from  the  Jamestown  Presbyterian  Church.  Seeing 
me  with  my  mother  they  stopped  and  greeted  us 
very  cordially.  I  was  very  glad  to  see  them  and 
apparently  they  were  equally  glad  to  see  me. 
Before  parting  they  asked  me  to  come  over  and 
spend  the  day  with  them,  which  I  did  on  the  fol 
lowing  Tuesday,  when  they  sent  their  carriage 
and  driver  to  my  mother's  home  to  take  me  over. 
Mr.  Vaughan  devoted  the  entire  day  to  me,  taking 

74 


DOING      AND       LEARNING 

me  over  the  farm  on  horseback,  looking  at  the 
stock,  acres  of  tobacco  and  corn,  and  showing  me 
other  points  of  interest  about  the  place.  He  also 
asked  many  questions  about  Hampton  Institute 
and  about  my  courses  of  study  and  progress  there, 
showing  a  deep  interest  in  all  that  I  was  doing,  as 
well  as  in  my  future.  He  expressed  much  satis 
faction  in  the  fact  that  I  had  gone  to  school  rather 
than  into  politics  and  possibly  into  the  Legisla 
ture,  for  he  knew  of  the  incident  in  my  experience  a 
few  years  before,  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 
Of  course  I  was  greatly  interested  in  all  that  he 
showed  me  on  his  splendid  farm,  but  I  was  more 
impressed  with  the  attention  and  courtesy  which 
he  accorded  me  during  the  day.  And  I  did  not 
fail  to  notice  that  he  gave  me  the  same  considera 
tion  in  many  ways  that  he  and  his  father  had  be 
stowed  upon  their  guests  of  former  years  when  I 
worked  as  a  boy  upon  their  plantation.  While  I 
very  much  enjoyed  the  two  weeks  at  home  visiting 
old  scenes  and  old  friends,  there  was  nevertheless 
an  element  of  sadness  in  it  all.  The  dwellings,  barns, 
and  fences  were  unkempt;  there  was  an  air  of  disorder 
and  confusion  about  most  things  and  most  people 

75 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

also;  our  church  and  the  choir,  as  well  as  the 
sermon  of  our  pastor,  seemed  so  different  and  dis 
appointing  and  so  unsatisfactory  that  I  was  rather 
relieved  to  get  away  from  it.  Before  leaving  I 
discussed  this  with  my  mother;  but  she  felt  that 
things  were  not  so  very  different,  that  many 
things  were  actually  better,  that  the  difference 
was  with  me.  I  had  changed.  I  have  no  doubt 
she  was  correct,  as  she  usually  was. 

I  returned  to  Hampton  after  an  interesting  and 
pleasant,  though  in  some  ways  disappointing,  visit, 
but  I  was  never  before  so  impressed  with  the  needs 
of  my  community  along  almost  every  line.  I  was 
convinced  that  whatever  else  I  might  do,  there  was 
nothing  more  worth  while  than  helping  just  such 
people  in  just  that  kind  of  a  community. 


76 


CHAPTER  V 

A   TOUCH    OF    REAL    LIFE 

THE  Middle  Year  at  Hampton  was  not  very  dif 
ferent  from  the  Junior.  The  one  subject  which  I 
think  had  the  greatest  influence  on  me  was  the 
theory  and  practice  of  teaching.  They  rarely  called 
it  "pedagogy"  in  those  days.  I  think  that  at 
Hampton  they  were  afraid  to  use  such  a  "big"  word. 
As  a  part  of  Hampton's  course  in  practice  teach 
ing  every  student,  before  entering  the  Senior  Class, 
was  required  to  teach  at  least  one  term  or  its  equiv 
alent  in  the  public  schools.  It  was  for  this  rea 
son  that  the  course  in  pedagogics  was  taken  up  in 
the  Middle  Year,  and  a  certificate  given  by  Hamp 
ton  to  its  Senior  students  to  teach  in  the  schools  of 
Virginia;  but  most  superintendents  required  that 
every  applicant  should  pass  his  examination.  I 
enjoyed  the  work  in  practice  teaching  very  much. 
I  do  not  know  that  it  was  the  subject  that  im 
pressed  me  so  much  as  did  the  teacher,  Miss  Eliza- 

77 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

beth  Hyde,  who  conducted  the  class,  and  who  has 
ever  since  been  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  help 
ful  forces  in  the  life  and  work  of  Hampton  Institute. 
We  had  at  least  a  part  of  the  time  of  nearly  every 
recitation  taken  up  in  a  sort  of  conference  on  human 
nature.  We  did  not  call  it  psychology  then,  but  that 
is  what  it  was,  and  even  to  this  day  I  am  influenced 
by  many  of  the  conclusions  that  we  then  reached. 
At  the  close  of  the  year,  with  seventy-eight  other 
students,  I  was  passed  on  to  the  Senior  Class  and 
was  provided  with  a  certificate  to  teach  in  the 
schools  of  Virginia,  provided,  of  course,  that  I  could 
pass  the  county  examination  satisfactorily.  It  oc 
curred  to  me  that,  before  teaching,  inasmuch  as  I 
had  never  been  outside  of  Virginia  except  on  my 
enforced  visit  to  Baltimore,  it  would  strengthen 
my  position  in  my  school  community,  wherever 
it  might  be,  if  I  could  at  least  say  that  I  had  lived 
outside  of  Virginia;  so  I  secured  a  position  as 
head  waiter  in  a  hotel  in  Pennsylvania.  I  had 
what  the  boys  would  call  in  those  days  "a  very 
successful  season."  While  my  work  was  not  very 
hard  from  some  points  of  view  and  my  pay  was  very 
generous,  at  least  in  gratuities — "tips" — there  was 

78 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

something  about  the  life  that  did  not  appeal  to  me, 
because  the  conduct  of  some  of  the  guests  differed 
greatly  from  what  I  had  expected.  So  far  as  the 
treatment  received  from  the  guests  was  con 
cerned,  I  had  no  cause  for  complaint,  but  many 
things  about  them  and  their  manner  of  living  were 
disappointing,  not  to  say  shocking,  to  one  who 
had  set  up  a  very  high  standard  and  rather  high 
ideals  for  people  of  means  and  education  who 
lived  amidst  such  pleasant  and  apparently  whole 
some  surroundings. 

At  the  close  of  the  summer  season  I  returned  to 
Virginia  and  was  appointed  to  teach  in  the  school 
at  Cottontown  in  Cumberland  County.  I  had 
taken  the  examination  in  Prince  Edward  County, 
for  this  was  the  county  in  which  I  lived,  but  inas 
much  as  all  the  places  in  the  schools  in  that  county 
were  filled  I  was  recommended  to  the  superinten 
dent  of  Cumberland  County.  I  had  no  serious 
difficulty  in  passing  the  examination,  though  I  had 
been  told  that  it  was  very  difficult  and  that  under 
no  circumstances  would  I  be  granted  a  first-grade 
certificate.  This  did  not  prove  true,  however, 
for  even  though  I  had  had  no  experience  as  a 

79 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

teacher  I  was  given  a  first-grade  certificate.  This 
was  in  early  September,  and  my  school  did  not 
open  till  about  the  middle  of  October,  so  I  im 
mediately  secured  work  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  L. 
B.  Walthall,  a  white  neighbour,  it  being  the  har 
vesting  season.  In  this  community,  as  in  most 
other  country  communities,  everybody  knew  every 
body's  else  business,  or  thought  he  did.  It  was  there 
fore  soon  known  throughout  the  community  that  I 
had  returned  from  school  and  secured  a  first-grade 
certificate,  and  that  the  county  superintendent, 
Mr.  Irving,  a  lawyer,  had  also  spoken  several 
times  to  groups  of  people  on  the  streets  of  the  town 
of  Farmville  and  other  places  of  the  excellent 
record  I  had  made  in  my  examination;  indeed 
that  he  had  felt  obliged  to  grant  me  a  first-grade 
certificate  even  though  I  had  had  no  practical 
experience  as  a  teacher.  I  think  I  must  have 
shocked  the  whole  district  by  working  as  a  day 
labourer  on  a  farm  after  having  been  appointed 
to  teach.  It  thoroughly  upset  the  residents,  white 
and  coloured.  No  coloured  teacher  in  that  locality 
had  up  to  that  time  ever  been  known  to  do  such  a 
thing.  Many  white  friends,  also  neighbours,  who 

80 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

had  heard  of  it  mostly  through  coloured  people, 
rode  over  to  Mr.  Walthall's  place  to  see  if  the 
rumour  were  really  true.  I  was  a  sort  of  curiosity, 
but  deep  down  in  the  heart  of  the  people  I  am  sure 
that  there  was  a  feeling  of  genuine  satisfaction 
that  I  was  doing  this.  Mr.  Walthall,  who  was  one 
of  the  leading  farmers  in  that  section,  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  express  his  approval  in  no  uncertain  terms. 

The  following  Sunday  I  appeared  at  Macedonia 
Baptist  Church  where  I  previously  had  had  charge  of 
the  Sunday  School,  choir,  and  other  activities.  The 
old  minister,  Brother  Armstead  Berkeley,  while 
he  took  a  text,  talked  more  about  me  than  any 
thing  else.  He  likened  me  to  Paul,  the  tent 
maker,  and  a  great  many  more  extravagant  com 
parisons  were  made,  much  to  my  own  embarrass 
ment.  I  was  pleased  at  the  beginning  of  his  dis 
course,  but  would  have  been  happier  had  he  said 
much  less  about  me. 

Mr.  Walthall,  after  the  first  few  days,  increased 
my  pay  to  nearly  twice  what  he  was  paying  the 
others,  saying  that  he  felt  that  I  was  worth  more 
than  they.  Furthermore,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
tell  all  of  his  men  about  it,  and  after  two  weeks 

81 


FINDING      A     WAY      OUT 

gave  me  entire  charge  of  the  squad  of  some  twenty 
people.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  I  was  earning 
more  on  the  farm  than  I  did  later  when  I  began 
teaching. 

On  the  Sunday  in  October  prior  to  the  open 
ing  of  school  on  Monday  I  attended  church  services 
at  Midway  Baptist  Church,  a  short  distance  from 
the  school,  where  a  large  audience  had  gathered. 
It  had  been  announced,  it  seems,  in  the  town  on 
Saturday — and  almost  everyone  went  to  Farm- 
ville  on  Saturday  from  the  four  counties,  as  they 
do  now — that  the  teacher  would  be  present  and 
speak.  I  was  introduced  by  the  pastor,  an  old 
friend  and  former  night-school  teacher,  the  Rev. 
Anthony  G.  Green.  He  knew  of  my  early  boy 
hood,  and  did  not  hesitate,  in  his  kindly  and  well- 
meaning  way,  to  paint  the  most  graphic  picture  of 
me  that  his  limited  vocabulary  could  command. 
I  made  a  short  talk,  and  among  other  things  urged  the 
people  to  send  their  children  to  school  the  next  day. 
I  was  early  at  the  schoolhouse  the  following  morn 
ing,  swept  up  the  building  and  cleaned  the  grounds. 
The  few  neighbours,  seeing  what  I  was  doing,  in 
sisted  upon  my  permitting  them  to  do  it.  They 

82 


A      TOUCH      OF       R  E.A  L       L  I  F  E 

thought  the  teacher  had  no  business  to  be  clean 
ing  up  the  school  grounds  and  cutting  down  weeds 
and  such  things.  I  permitted  them  to  help  me 
until  the  time  came  to  open  school. 

At  nine  o'clock  we  opened.  Six  pupils  were 
registered  the  first  day.  The  number  continued 
to  increase  rapidly  until  shortly  afterward  there 
were  somewhere  near  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The 
schoolhouse  was  a  two-room  building,  so  I  made 
application  to  the  school  board  for  an  assistant 
teacher,  which  application  was  granted.  The 
superintendent  sent  a  young  man  by  the  name  of 
Eston  Hembricks.  Mr.  Hembricks  was  a  very  ex 
cellent  man  and  not  a  bad  teacher  from  the  stand 
point  of  the  conventional  methods  of  that  day.  He 
believed  in  whipping,  and  that  vigorously.  If  a 
student  missed  three  words  in  spelling  or  read 
poorly,  or  did  not  know  his  lessons,  there  was  only 
one  thing  to  follow  and  that  was  a  whipping.  In 
this  we  did  not  agree,  and  had  many  heated  argu 
ments  over  the  point.  I  felt  that  it  might  per 
haps  be  necessary  to  whip  one  or  two,  but  the 
general  upsetting  of  the  school  by  having  a  boy 
take  off  his  coat  and  vest,  the  screaming  and  the 

83 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

howling,  with  many  of  the  girls  also  crying 
while  the  boys  were  being  whipped,  all  this  to  my 
mind  was  generally  demoralizing,  and  besides  it 
grated  very  much  on  my  sensibilities.  He  was 
persistent,  however,  in  his  idea  that  I  could  never 
maintain  control  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  children 
by  the  method  I  was  advocating. 

The  school  was  located  in  what  was  from  many 
points  of  view  a  very  promising  community.  It 
contained  a  large  number  of  coloured  people  and 
but  few  white  families.  Very  many  of  the  col 
oured  people  owned  their  homes;  at  least  they 
owned  the  land,  and  many  of  them  considerable 
land.  They  had  reached  what  is  sometimes  called 
now  "  the  land  period  "  in  their  development.  They 
had  not,  however,  reached  "the  home  period." 
Many  men  who  owned  a  hundred  or  more  acres  of 
land  would  be  living  in  a  cabin  which  could  be 
built  in  those  days  for  twenty-five  dollars;  yet 
these  people  had  very  high  aspirations.  They 
wanted  their  children  educated;  they  were  strong  in 
their  religious  convictions  and  had  fairly  good 
churches.  They  were  generous  toward  their  lodges 
and  toward  religious  and  educational  matters. 

84 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

Mr.  Hembricks  persistently  continued  in  the 
use  of  corporal  punishment  in  his  room  in  spite  of 
my  advice  to  the  contrary.  Frequently  he  dis 
turbed  the  order  in  my  room  with  the  disorder 
which  he  created  by  his  vigorous  method  of  dis 
cipline,  until,  as  principal  teacher,  I  felt  obliged 
to  insist  that  if  there  were  any  occasion  for  dis 
cipline,  it  must  be  referred  to  me.  Not  being 
in  sympathy  with  my  method  of  school  manage 
ment,  he  said  after  a  time  that  he  would  appeal  the 
matter  to  the  school  board,  and  if  they  did  not  sus 
tain  him,  he  would  resign.  I  was  not  sure  how  the 
matter  would  impress  the  school  board,  so  I 
thought  it  wise  to  call  together  a  deacon  of  the 
church  and  a  few  older  men  in  conference  with 
Hembricks  and  myself  at  my  boarding  place  on  a 
certain  night.  My  landlady's  husband,  though 
he  could  neither  read  nor  write,  was  a  remarkably 
clever  man.  He  was  the  political  boss  of  the 
Randolph  district  and  the  leader  in  whatever 
matters  concerned  Negroes.  Whatever  happened, 
whether  in  school,  in  church,  in  politics,  in  secret 
societies,  or  elsewhere,  must  have  Charlie  Palmer's 
approval.  He  suggested,  because  of  my  youth  and 

85 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

inexperience,  that  I  leave  the  matter  entirely  in  his 
hands.  I  readily  acquiesced  in  his  suggestion  and 
he  in  his  own  way  began  making  preparations 
for  a  big  supper.  He  made  out  the  bill  of  fare.  I 
need  not  specify  here  the  delicacies,  but  we  had  all 
kinds  of  food  common  to  a  rural  coloured  commu 
nity  of  the  day:  opossum,  raccoon,  turkey,  and  all 
the  delectable  parts  of  the  hog.  Indeed  we  had,  as 
we  thought,  everything  that  one  could  wish,  both 
to  eat  and  to  drink.  Instead  of  about  seven  or 
eight  men,  however,  Charlie  Palmer  had  about 
fifty  men  with  about  half  as  many  women,  who 
were  not  invited  to  the  party  but  were  present  to 
look  after  the  preparation  and  serving  of  the  food. 
It  was  a  rather  warm  and  beautiful  moonlight 
night.  They  barbecued  a  pig  over  coals  in  the 
yard,  and  there  was  a  barrel  of  persimmon  beer, 
of  which  the  people  drank  freely,  and  I  think  that 
barrel  had  some  ingredients  in  it  other  than  persim 
mon  juice.  Anyhow,  after  we  had  eaten  and 
drunk  our  fill  and  our  friend  Palmer  had  told  us 
many  a  marvellous  story  of  his  experiences,  po 
litical  and  otherwise,  and  had  made  a  strong  speech, 
advising  the  people  to  use  all  the  influence  they 

86 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

possessed  for  Prof.  John  M.  Langston,  a  col 
oured  man,  who  had  bolted  the  regular  Republi 
can  ticket  and  was  running  for  Congress  on  an  in 
dependent  ticket  in  the  4th  District,  Judge  Arnold 
being  the  regular  Republican  candidate,  he  called 
on  me  to  give  my  ideas  of  Mr.  Langston  and  why 
the  coloured  people,  though  they  lived  in  the  loth 
Congressional  District  across  the  river  from  the 
4th  District,  should  use  all  the  influence  they  could 
muster  for  his  election.  Of  course  I  have  no  idea 
now  what  I  said,  but  my  words  urging  the  im 
portance  of  having  a  Negro  representative  in  Con 
gress  and  my  criticism  of  many  white  Republicans! 
who  had  gotten  into  office  on  the  Negro  vote  and 
simply  used  us,  created  ajnong  the  crowd  a  pro- 
found  sensation.  They  yelled  and  threw  up  their 
hats.  Some  took  me  on  their  shoulders  and  car 
ried  me  around  the  premises  and  were  withal  so 
demonstrative  that  I  was  confused  and  puzzled; 
and  I  ajn  not  sure  even  yet  whether  it  was  not  the 
effect  of  the  persimmon  beer  and  other  things 
which  were  very  freely  dispensed  rather  than  my 
speech  which  caused  this  embarrassing  demonstra 
tion.  Then  Mr.  Palmer  called  on  Hembricks  for  a 

87 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

speech.  Mr.  Hembricks  made  a  good  speech,  but 
the  enthusiasm  had  expended  itself  somewhat,  so 
that  while  he  got  some  applause,  it  was  very  weak 
by  contrast.  When  he  concluded  Mr.  Palmer 
said  that  it  had  been  a  meeting  in  which  we  had 
stressed  the  importance  of  Negroes  working  to 
gether  under  coloured  leadership,  and  he  thought 
it  was  a  great  mistake  in  any  man  who  pretended 
to  be  a  leader  among  coloured  people  to  take  any 
difficulty  arising  between  them  to  white  officials 
to  settle  if  it  could  possibly  be  avoided.  He  said 
that  the  Cottontown  school  had  had  less  disorder 
that  year  under  its  new  teachers  than  at  any  time 
since  the  school  was  established.  The  children 
were  more  enthusiastic  about  attending  school,  and 
the  homes  of  these  children  had  already  felt  the 
influence  of  promptness  and  order  which  the  pupils 
had  been  taught  during  the  short  time  the  school 
had  been  in  session.  This  speech  was  followed  by 
several  others  of  the  group  in  the  same  strain. 
The  meeting  broke  up  and  the  people  went  home. 
Nothing  was  said  about  the  controversy  between 
the  teachers.  I  went  to  bed  and  Mr.  Hembricks 
spent  the  night  with  the  Palmers.  He  and  Mr. 

88 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

Palmer  talked  late  into  the  night.  At  breakfast 
next  morning  Hembricks  apologized  for  his  atti 
tude  and  assured  me  there  would  be  no  further 
trouble  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  and  from  that 
time  on  I  continued  to  handle  the  discipline  of 
the  school,  except  in  cases  where  I  thought  Mr. 
Hembricks  himself  ought  to  handle  it.  No  more 
pupils  were  whipped  and  we  had  a  very  orderly  set 
of  children.  More  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
were  enrolled  during  the  year  till  we  had  to  select, 
after  securing  the  approval  of  the  chairman  of  the 
board,  two  of  our  more  advanced  pupils  to  help  us 
in  the  work. 

In  this  locality  there  were  four  coloured  chur 
ches — Greencreek,  Mount  Nebo,  Cornerstone,  and 
the  Midway  Baptist.  Midway  was  nearest  to 
the  school.  Fortunately  they  held  services  not 
oftener  than  twice  a  month,  so  that  Mr.  Hembricks 
and  I  could  attend  each  church  at  least  monthly. 
We  were  always  expected  to  speak  and  to  teach 
a  Sunday-School  class,  if  not  to  review  the  lesson. 
From  this  I  am  sure  I  got  a  great  deal  more  than 
the  scholars.  It  was  in  many  ways  an  easy  matter 
in  this  section  for  a  Negro  teacher  to  win  the 

89 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

respect  and  confidence  of  the  people.  I  have  never 
found  any  group  of  people  more  willing  to  be  led 
than  were  the  people  of  this  community.  I  am 
not  sure  now  as  to  the  quality  or  character  of  my 
teaching  at  the  time.  I  doubt  if  it  would  pass 
muster  under  the  eye  of  a  modern  pedagogue.  I  was 
somewhat  original  perhaps  in  some  of  my  ideas  and 
methods,  and  I  introduced  many  things  which  in 
those  days  were  entirely  new.  For  instance,  they 
had  never  observed  Thanksgiving  Day  prior  to  my 
coming,  so  that  year  we  had  a  great  celebration. 
The  pastor  permitted  us  to  use  the  church  and 
people  came  from  as  far  as  twenty  miles  to  be  pres 
ent.  Some  of  the  men  who  were  interested  in 
horses  arranged  a  tournament,  and  at  night  we  had 
chorus  singing.  The  school  sang  as  a  body  and  I 
insisted  that  all  the  girls  should  appear  in  white 
dresses  with  blue  sashes  and  every  boy  have  a  white 
sash.  I  suppose  I  did  this  because  I  wanted  to  be 
sure  that  the  pupils  should  look  different  from 
the  other  people  present.  There  must  have  been 
two  thousand  persons  on  the  grounds,  perhaps 
more,  and  all  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  occasion. 
Then  at  Christmas  we  had  something  of  the  same 

90 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

sort  of  celebration,  with  a  Christmas  tree,  which  was 
the  first  seen  in  that  community.  We  had  perhaps 
a  dozen  preachers  present  at  this  Christmas  cele 
bration.  Each  one  had  some  part  in  the  service. 
This  way  of  observing  the  day  was  in  striking  con 
trast  to  what  had  been  previously  in  vogue.  Christ 
mas  in  that  part  of  Virginia,  as  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  South,  had  been  given  over  very 
largely  to  dissipation  of  one  kind  or  another;  fire 
works  and  also  "fire  water"  were  much  in  evidence, 
and  many  who  did  not  have  fireworks  used  guns 
or  anything  that  they  could  muster  with  which  to 
make  a  noise.  Any  form  of  disorder  was  permis 
sible.  They  used  to  sing,  as  I  remember,  a  song 
which  went  like  this : 

In  the  Summer  roasting  ears, 
In  the  Fall,  "punkin"— 
Christmas  conies  but  once  a  year, 
And  everyone  must  do  somethin'. 

The  "somethin'"  meant  something  noisy  and  out  of 
the  ordinary.  I  introduced  the  general  singing  of 
plantation  melodies  among  the  people,  and  at  three 
o'clock  each  Friday  afternoon  we  had  public 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

exercises.  Often  the  schoolhouse  could  not  ac 
commodate  the  crowds  that  attended — scores  of 
mothers  and  many  fathers,  as  well  as  many  of  the 
white  neighbours  who  came  from  long  distances  to 
hear  the  singing  and  to  witness  the  other  exercises 
by  the  children.  The  Negro  farmers  as  well  as  the 
whites  were  much  pleased  with  my  talks  once  a 
week  on  general  farming,  poultry  raising,  care  of 
cattle  and  hogs,  the  rotation  of  crops,  and  the 
importance  of  gardens,  especially  winter  gardens. 
At  these  Friday  exercises  we  also  talked  to  the  par 
ents  and  older  children  on  habits  and  manners, 
and  many  other  simple,  but,  as  we  thought,  need 
ful  things  regarding  the  home,  backyards,  out 
houses,  and  similar  topics.  We  called  in,  too,  on 
several  occasions,  leading  white  men  to  talk  to  the 
pupils  on  Friday  evening,  and  each  coloured  preacher 
had  a  turn  before  the  year  was  out.  I  tried  to 
dignify  the  occasion  by  calling  it  the  ' '  Friday  after 
noon  lecture." 

I  somehow  succeeded  during  that  year  in  mak 
ing  a  very  pleasant  impression  on  the  school  offi 
cials:  the  superintendent,  Mr.  Corson,  and  the 
members  of  the  precinct  board.  They  took  much 

92 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

pride  in  visiting  the  school,  and  the  superintendent 
urged  many  coloured  teachers  to  come,  and 
brought  with  him,  on  one  or  two  occasions,  some 
of  his  white  teachers.  He  generally  called  up  a 
few  classes  and  gave  them  certain  examinations, 
and  after  the  first  visit  always  asked  that  we  sing 
for  him.  We  had  rehearsed  the  pupils  in  singing, 
and  the  girls  we  had  taught  certain  very  simple  gym 
nastic  exercises  and  they  usually  went  through  these 
for  his  benefit.  We  would  then  have  the  students 
sing  plantation  melodies,  which  they  did  with  a 
will  and  which,  by  the  way,  the  pupils  enjoyed 
as  much  as  any  one.  As  I  think  of  it  now,  I 
wonder  why  they  ever  came  or  why  there  was 
any  enthusiasm  over  these  talks,  and  the  other 
things  that  we  did,  for  in  many  ways  I  really 
knew  very  little  about  what  I  was  attempting 
to  do. 

While  I  learned  comparatively  little  about 
scientific  agriculture  during  my  stay  at  Hampton, 
I  had  absorbed  something  of  the  agricultural 
atmosphere  from  Mr.  Albert  Howe,  than  whom 
Hajtnpton  has  never  had  a  more  faithful  worker. 
Mr.  Howe  gave  us  frequent  talks  on  agriculture, 

93 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

the  importance  of  gardens,  poultry-raising,  and 
other  subjects,  so  that  I  was  able,  it  seems,  in  spite 
of  my  lack  of  agricultural  training,  to  help  a  com 
munity  that  knew  so  much  less  than  I  did. 

It  was  a  very  busy  year  but  I  managed  to  find 
time  for  reading  and  study.  I  had  had  up  to  that 
time  a  more  or  less  vague  desire  to  study  law.  I 
had  an  idea  that  perhaps  some  day  I  might  follow 
that  profession,  so  the,  superintendent  of  schools  for 
Prince  Edward  County,  whose  office  was  in  Farm- 
ville  nine  miles  away,  was  kind  enough  to  give  me 
lessons  in  law  and  lend  me  such  of  his  books  as  I 
needed.  He  declined  to  accept  any  pay  but  allowed 
me  to  work  in  his  office  on  Saturdays,  copying  deeds, 
contracts,  and  similar  work,  which  saved  time  for 
him  and  was,  of  course,  excellent  training  for  me. 
This  enabled  me  to  occupy  my  evenings  in  a  more 
or  less  definite,  systematic  way.  On  Saturdays 
when  I  came  to  town  he  frequently  catechized  me 
very  minutely  on  various  phases  of  the  week's  work 
which  he  had  given  me  to  do. 

The  following  spring,  Mr.  Irwin,  the  superinten 
dent,  told  me  I  had  sufficient  knowledge  to  pass 
the  bar  examination.  It  was  the  law  in  Virginia 

94 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

then  that  a  candidate  for  the  bar  could  receive  a 
certificate  to  practise  after  examination  by  two 
circuit  judges.  I  never  shall  forget  the  time  I  ap 
peared  before  Judge  Frank  Irving,  the  father  of  Mr. 
Irving  under  whom  I  had  been  reading  law  during 
the  winter.  I  had  come  to  the  court-room  late  one 
afternoon.  There  must  have  been  thirty  people 
there,  many  attorneys  among  them.  The  cases 
had  all  been  disposed  of  for  the  term.  The  judge 
was  swapping  stories  with  some  of  the  attorneys. 
He  finally  turned  to  me  and  said,  "By  the  way, 
Moton,  I  understand  that  you  want  to  take  an  ex 
amination  to  practise  law."  I  told  him  that  I  did, 
and  he  said,  "I  might  as  well  examine  you  now." 
I  told  him  I  was  not  prepared  to  be  examined  then, 
that  I  would  prefer  to  be  given  another  appoint 
ment.  He  said,  "No,  I  can  refuse  you  a  certificate 
now  as  well  as  any  time.  I  have  had  only  one 
Negro  in  my  court  and  he  did  not  belong  there. 
He  was  permitted  to  practise  by  courtesy,  so  I  will 
examine  you  now.  Come  up  here."  I  was  cer 
tainly  unprepared,  but  I  thought  I  might  as  well 
face  the  ordeal.  His  son  who  sat  over  within  the 
enclosure  gave  me  some  encouragement  by  saying, 

95 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

"You  had  better  come  over  and  try  it  anyhow. 
Many  men  have  failed  and  you  will  have  com 
pany.'' 

I  remember  that  the  judge  asked  me  to  tell 
him  first  what  a  "demurrer"  was.  I  undertook 
to  tell  him.  He  differed  with  me.  I  argued  with 
him.  In  ten  minutes  I  had  forgotten  that  I  was 
arguing  with  "His  Honour,"  so  we  argued  the 
"demurrer"  in  all  its  phases  until  dark.  All  the 
attorneys  remained  and  were  intensely  amused, 
apparently.  After  we  had  spent  perhaps  two  hours 
and  a  half  in  arguing  this,  the  only  question  that  the 
judge  asked  me,  he  said,  "I  will  give  you  a  cer* 
tificate.  Call  up  at  the  office  to-morrow  morning." 
And  turning  to  the  clerk  of  the  court  he  said, 
"Write  him  a  certificate,  Claxton,  and  I  will  sign 


it  to-morrow." 


But  I  had  to  pass  another  examination,  before 
a  judge  who  was  reported  to  be  much  more  gruff 
than  this  one.  A  few  days  later  I  drove  fifteen  miles 
to  the  home  of  this  other  circuit  judge,  who  lived  in 
another  county.  I  reached  the  house  at  breakfast 
time,  somewhere  around  seven  o'clock,  just  as  the 
bell  rang  for  him  to  come  in  to  breakfast  with  the 

96 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

V^ 

family.  He  saw  me  drive  up,  asked  what  my  busi 
ness  was,  whether  I  had  had  breakfast,  and  other 
questions.  I  assured  him  that  I  had  had  a  very 
early  breakfast  and  told  him  what  my  errand  was. 
He  gave  me  a  seat  on  the  front  porch  and  went  in 
to  breakfast.  Presently  the  cook  came  out  with  a 
tray  on  which  was  a  very  good  breakfast,  with  steam 
ing  hot  biscuits  and  other  appetizing  dishes.  I  did 
not  send  it  back. 

Later  the  judge  came  out  and  apparently  in  a 
very  indifferent  manner,  talked  of  many  things  and 
asked  many  questions,  not  at  all  along  the  line  of 
the  law,  as  I  had  expected.  The  fact  is,  I  was  all 
prepared  for  this  examination.  I  was  prepared  to 
give  the  definition  of  law,  something  of  the  history 
of  law,  the  various  divisions  of  the  law,  and  to  an 
swer  the  questions  likely  to  be  asked.  I  was  prepared 
to  make  up  briefs,  indictments,  and  everything  else 
that  I  had  been  able  to  find  after  much  study  in 
law  books;  but  the  judge  asked  about  President 
Cleveland,  who  was  then  president;  what  I  thought 
of  him,  of  Congress,  the  tariff,  the  Republican 
Party,  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  Secession  Movement.  He 
asked  my  opinion  of  General  Lee,  General  Jackson, 

97 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

and  General  Grant.  He  asked  questions  about 
Hampton  Institute,  General  Armstrong,  the  rela 
tion  of  the  races,  as  well  as  many  other  subjects. 
A  famous  case  was  then  pending  in  an  adjoining 
county;  he  asked  me  about  the  merits  and  de 
merits  of  both  sides.  It  so  happened  that  I  was 
familiar  with  the  case.  He  had  seen  me  in  the  court 
room  a  few  weeks  before  when  he  was  the  presiding 
judge.  He  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  the  argu 
ments  of  the  opposing  attorneys,  and  I  did  not 
hesitate  to  pick  flaws  in  them  and  commend  what 
I  thought  to  be  their  good  points.  I  also  told  him 
I  thought  one  of  the  attorneys  had  been  very  un 
wise  in  one  of  the  questions  he  had  asked  his  client, 
almost  losing  his  case  himself,  in  my  judgment. 
The  judge  expressed  no  opinion  whatsoever. 
Finally  he  excused  himself  a  moment,  went  into 
the  house,  and  came  back  and  handed  me  a  certi 
ficate.  I  came  away  with  a  sense  of  disappoint 
ment  that  here  I  had  been  handed  a  license  to 
practise  law  and  had  never  been  properly  ex 
amined.  I  decided,  therefore,  to  continue  my 
studies,  but  as  I  think  of  it  now  I  can  understand 
that  the  examination,  while  technically  deficient 

98 


A      TOUCH      OF      REAL      LIFE 

from  my  viewpoint,  was  in  every  sense  adequate 
from  the  standpoint  of  this  experienced  jurist. 

The  apparent  success  which  came  to  me  that  year 
brought  many  thoughts  to  my  mind  with  reference 
to  what  I  should  do  when  I  had  finished  my  course 
at  Hampton.  Cumberland  County  and  Cotton- 
town — the  name  by  this  time  had  been  changed 
to  Adriance — seemed  to  me  an  ideal  place  for  a 
small  industrial  school  on  the  Hampton  plan. 
Within  a  radius  of  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen  miles  there 
were  concentrated  something  like  three  or  four 
thousand  coloured  people  who  could  buy  land,  and 
many  of  whom  had  already  secured  substantial 
holdings.  The  white  people  were  very  kindly  dis 
posed  toward  them  and  anxious  to  sell  land  to 
coloured  people.  Also  there  were  four  churches. 
In  every  way  it  was  an  ideal  community  for  a  little 
school;  so  I  got  some  of  the  more  thoughtful  col 
oured  men  together  and  we  went  over  a  scheme  for 
such  a  school.  I  called  on  some  of  the  leading 
white  people  and  they  also  approved  the  plan,  offer 
ing  their  support,  and  one  gentleman  offered  to 
give  ten  acres  of  land.  The  county  superintendent, 
Mr.  Corson,  assured  us  that  the  county  would  do  at 

99 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

least  as  much  as  it  had  been  doing,  and  he  felt  sure 
that  they  would  provide  the  salary  for  the  teacher. 
I  wrote  General  Armstrong  at  Hampton  and  Miss 
Mary  F.  Mackie  and  some  others  of  my  Hampton 
teachers,  setting  forth  my  plans.  They  strongly  ad 
vised  against  it,  and  urged  me  to  return  to  the  Insti 
tute  and  to  complete  my  course.  Some  of  them 
wrote  me  frankly  that  I  did  not  have  sufficient 
education  to  undertake  such  a  work.  One  lady 
teacher,  Mrs.  I.  N.  Tillinghast,  who  is  at  present 
a  warden  at  Vassar  College,  wrote  me  very  frankly 
that  my  education  was  exceedingly  deficient ;  that 
I  did  not  know  enough  about  any  one  thing  to 
succeed;  that  I  had  the  ability  to  get  up  before  a 
crowd  and  to  make  a  certain  kind  of  show,  but  that 
there  was  not  nearly  so  much  to  what  I  was  doing 
as  I  thought.  I  shall  always  remember  that  letter, 
for  her  argument,  though  hard  to  accept,  was  con 
vincing.  I  therefore  decided  for  the  present,  at 
least,  to  abandon  the  scheme. 

The  public-school  term  was  five  months,  but  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  parents,  Mr.  Hembricks  and 
I  were  successful  in  lengthening  it  by  two  months. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  school  closing  "Exhibition" 

100 


A      TOUCH      OF      R 

— the  large  audience  of  coloured  people,  the 
wonderful  dinner  in  the  churchyard,  or  the  com 
mittee  of  coloured  citizens  that  waited  on  me,  say 
ing  that  the  people  had  offered  to  double  my  salary 
the  next  year  if  I  would  come  back.  There  was 
also  a  letter  from  the  county  superintendent  en 
dorsed  by  the  chairman  of  the  County  School  Board, 
Mr.  Norton  Flippin,  in  which  they  agreed  that  I 
could  have  the  school  in  Cumberland  County  as 
long  as  they  were  in  office.  The  parting  there  was 
much  like  the  one  previously  described  on  my  leav 
ing  home  for  Hampton. 

The  following  summer  I  went  to  Philadelphia  and 
succeeded  in  securing  work  in  John  Wanamaker's 
store,  through  the  kindness  of  a  friend  who  gave 
me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mrs.  Robert  C. 
Ogden.  This,  too,  was  a  very  interesting  expe 
rience.  I  worked  in  what  was  called  the  house 
keeping  department  for  the  first  two  months 
with  a  gang  of  about  fifty  men.  There  were  but 
two  coloured  men,  of  whom  I  was  one.  The  others 
were  mostly  Irishmen  and  Italians,  but  there  were 
also  two  Dutchmen  and  two  or  three  American 
white  men.  We  had  all  of  the  noon  hour  and 

101 


F-I  tf  4)  I'N  G      A      WAY      OUT 

other  off -hours  when  we  had  a  chance  to  discuss 
many  very  interesting  questions  from  different 
points  of  view.  I  never  knew  before  that  white  men 
had  so  much  fault  to  find  with  other  white  men. 
These  men  complained  of  the  trusts,  were  down  on 
both  the  Democratic  Party  and  the  Republican 
Party,  as  well  as  on  Mr.  Wanamaker,  who  was  then 
the  Postmaster  General  under  President  Harri 
son.  It  was  hard  for  me  to  understand  how  these 
men  could  be  working  for  a  firm  that  gave  what 
seemed  to  me  so  much  consideration  to  its  em 
ployes,  and  yet  be  so  bitter  against  every  person 
in  authority.  Mr.  Wanamaker  had  just  called  to 
gether  all  of  his  employes  who  had  been  in  the 
service  more  than  ten  years  and  presented  each  of 
them  with  a  purse;  and  several  of  the  men  in  our 
group  were  among  this  number;  yet  these  very  men 
were  more  bitter  in  their  criticism  afterward  than 
before.  We  saw  Mr.  Wanamaker  occasionally  on 
Saturday  and  sometimes  on  Monday  mornings. 
Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden,  the  manager,  we  saw  daily. 
It  was  rather  interesting  to  me  to  observe  that  the 
Irish  and  the  native  Americans  of  the  group  were 
generally  the  most  outspoken  in  their  denunciation 

102 


A      TOUCH      OF        REAL      LIFE 

of  the  rich  and  of  all  office  holders.  The  Italians 
said  very  little,  and  the  Dutchmen  said  nothing  un 
less  their  opinion  was  asked.  Later  in  the  summer 
I  was  transferred  to  the  Bureau  of  Information, 
where  I  remained  until  the  middle  of  September, 
when  I  left  Philadelphia  for  Hampton. 


103 


CHAPTER  VI 

ENDING    STUDENT   DAYS 

HAVING  had  my  year  at  teaching,  as  required 
by  the  course  at  Hampton,  I  was  now  eligible  for 
membership  in  the  Senior  Class.  I  began  my 
work  in  October,  1889.  Of  the  seventy-eight 
students  who  had  been  promoted  to  the  Senior 
Class  with  me,  only  forty-eight  returned  to  com 
plete  the  course.  I  had  reached  the  rank  of  cap 
tain  in  the  Middle  Year;  but  things  had  somewhat 
changed  during  my  fifteen  months  away  from 
the  school.  Mr.  George  L.  Curtis,  who  as  com 
mandant  had  been  most  kind  and  friendly  to  me, 
had  resigned  his  position  and  Mr.  Charles  W. 
Freeland  had  succeeded  him.  I  was  not  sure  that 
I  would  receive  as  much  consideration  from  Mr. 
Freeland  as  I  had  from  Mr.  Curtis.  In  fact,  I  was 
reasonably  sure  that  I  would  not,  because  the 
boys  had  already  prejudiced  my  mind  against 
him.  He  was  an  Episcopal  minister  and  they  said 

104 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

he  came  from  Georgia,  and  was  much  worse,  as 
we  understood  it,  than  a  real  Georgian,  because, 
as  they  said,  he  was  a  "re-constructed  Northern 
er."  The  idea  was  prevalent  then  as  now  among 
coloured  people  that  when  Northern  people  come 
South  and  change  from  the  Northern  to  the 
Southern  attitude  on  the  race  question  they  are 
much  more  intolerant,  from  the  Negro's  point  of 
view,  than  native  Southerners.  My  prejudice 
against  him  therefore  was  very  strong,  and  I  had 
about  reached  the  conclusion  that  he  and  I  could 
never  get  along  together.  All  of  us  had  some  re 
sentment  against  General  Armstrong  for  having 
brought  such  a  person  into  the  work.  The  young 
men  did  not  hesitate  to  express  the  opinion  that  if 
General  Armstrong  meant  to  have  a  Southerner  he 
should  have  gotten  a  real  Southerner,  and  if  he  were 
going  to  have  a  Northerner  he  ought  to  have  a  real 
Northerner.  It  so  happened  that  several  boys 
from  Savannah,  Georgia,  where  Mr.  Freeland  had 
had  a  parish,  entered  school  that  fall,  and  those 
young  men,  I  noticed,  spoke  very  well  of  him  and 
of  his  mother.  They  said  he  had  been  very  popular 
with  the  coloured  people  in  Savannah  and  with 

105 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

white  people  also.  This  report  had  to  some  extent 
the  effect  of  allaying  what  was  growing  to  be  con 
siderable  bitterness  on  the  part  of  the  students 
generally.  I  soon  found,  however,  that,  while 
Mr.  Freeland  was  very  strict  and  very  exacting, 
he  was  most  kind  and  generous  and  that  students 
who  lived  up  to  his  rules  had  no  difficulty  in  get 
ting  on  with  him. 

When  I  entered  Hampton  in  1885,  except  for  a 
slight  inclination  toward  the  legal  profession,  I  did 
not  have  any  very  definite  plan  or  notion  as  to  what 
I  wanted  to  do,  but  I  was  clear  in  the  desire  to  re 
turn  home  and  continue  in  the  same  activities  in 
the  school,  church,  and  other  local  movements  in 
which  I  had  engaged  before  going  off  to  school. 
My  thought  was  to  get  sufficient  education  to  do 
these  things  better  and  to  save  myself  the  embar 
rassment  which  I  frequently  underwent  because  I 
did  not  know  as  much  as  many  people  in  the  com 
munity  thought  I  did.  But  when  I  entered  the 
Senior  Class  my  mind  was  pretty  definitely  set 
on  the  legal  profession,  and  though  I  had  passed 
the  examination  and  been  licensed  to  practise  in 
Virginia,  and  while  the  teachers  at  Hampton  did 

106 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

not  oppose  my  plan  exactly,  they  did  raise  the 
question  freely  and  frankly,  and  I  might  add  fre 
quently  also,  as  to  whether  I  could  thus  render  my 
people  the  greatest  service,  and  whether  legal  ad 
vice  at  that  time  was  the  greatest  need  of  an  unedu 
cated,  struggling  people  in  the  rural  districts  of  the 
South. 

There  was  never  any  question,  even  from  my 
earliest  youth,  I  think,  as  to  my  desire  to  be  help 
ful  to  my  people,  but  exactly  how  it  should  be  done 
was  not  wholly  clear.  My  heart  was  pretty  defi 
nitely  set  on  going  back  to  Prince  Edward  County, 
and  the  little  town  of  Farmville  was  to  me  an  ideal 
place.  Something  about  the  atmosphere  of  the 
locality  appealed  very  strongly  to  me.  I  had  been 
in  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and  Baltimore,  and 
had  seen  a  little  of  Norfolk,  Richmond,  and  Peters 
burg,  but  somehow  they  did  not  compare  in  impor 
tance  to  my  mind  with  Farmville,  nor  seem  nearly 
so  attractive  as  a  place  to  live  in  as  this  little  town 
on  the  Appomattox  River. 

It  was  the  custom  of  Mr.  Frissell  to  study  with 
the  Seniors  the  International  Sunday-School  Les 
sons.  His  custom  was  to  take  up  the  lesson  a 

107 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Sunday  ahead  of  the  calendar  because  most  of 
the  members  of  the  Senior  Class  taught  in  the 
neighbouring  Sunday  Schools,  churches,  jail,  poor- 
house,  and  the  two  or  three  mission  Sunday  Schools 
in  the  county  which  were  under  the  direct  super 
vision  of  the  Institute.  The  Seniors  always  looked 
forward  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasant  anticipa 
tion  to  being  in  Mr.  FrisselPs  class,  because  his 
reputation  as  a  teacher  of  the  Bible  was  well  known 
among  the  student  body  as  well  as  among  the 
teachers.  During  the  last  half  of  the  year  it  was 
General  Armstrong's  custom  to  take  up  with  the 
Senior  Class  Dr.  Mark  Hopkins's  book,  "The  Out 
line  Study  of  Man."  He  never  called  it  psychol 
ogy  until  usually  about  the  last  week  of  the  school 
term  and  then  he  would  announce  to  the  class  that 
they  had  been  studying  psychology.  I  can  remem 
ber  very  little  now  of  any  particular  thing  that  I 
learned  from  the  text  book  during  the  four  and  a 
half  months,  but  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  single  member 
of  that  class  to-day  who  does  not  feel  even  now 
the  power  and  influence  of  General  Armstrong's 
earnest,  strong,  forceful,  inspiring  personality  and 
the  simple  illustrations  which  he  used  to  drive  home 

108 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

the  telling  points  he  made.  He  brought  out  of  the 
lessons  the  importance  of  proper  relations  between 
black  people  and  white  people,  and  the  value  of 
being  able  to  approach  and  deal  with  a  person 
when  you  knew  he  did  not  like  you  and  was  prej 
udiced  against  you;  how  we  ourselves,  who  were 
not  without  strong  prejudices,  even  race  prejudices, 
could  deal  fairly  with  people  against  whom  we  had 
prejudice,  members  of  our  own  race  as  well  as  of 
other  races.  He  never  failed — as  was  also  true  of 
Mr.  Frissell  and  the  other  teachers — to  emphasize 
the  importance  of  engaging  in  such  work  as  would 
be  of  the  largest  benefit  to  the  coloured  race,  and 
he  never  expressed  any  doubt  as  to  the  final  tri 
umph  of  right  and  justice  and  the  ultimate  success 
of  the  two  races  in  adjusting  the  difficult  and  very- 
much-talked-of  "race  problem."  Before^ the  close 
of  the  year  a  large  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
class,  Indians  as  well  as  Negroes,  had  pretty  defi 
nitely  made  up  their  minds  that  they  would  engage 
in  some  work  that  would  have  a  direct  bearing 
on  the  development  of  their  races. 

Being  the  ranking  captain,  besides  filling  other 
places  of  responsibility  in  the  school,  somehow  or 

109 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

other  I  was  able  to  gain  the  confidence  of  most  of 
the  student  body.  I  was  made  president  of  the 
Young  People's  Christian  Association,  an  organiza 
tion  nominally  under  the  chaplain,  Mr.  Frissell, 
but  it  took  in  all  of  the  religious  organizations 
of  the  school,  the  officers  being  elected  by  the 
student  body.  I  was  also  made  president  of  the 
Old  Dominion  Debating  Society,  the  Boys'  Glee 
Club,  and  the  Senior  Class,  as  well  as  president  of 
the  Temperance  Society.  These  honours  carried 
with  them,  of  course,  certain  responsibilities  which 
I  rather  shrank  from  because  I  did  not  wish  to  have 
anything  hamper  my  studies.  In  former  years 
my  class  work  had  been  somewhat  along  the  lines 
of  previous  reading,  but  the  Senior  work  was  al 
most  entirely  new,  except  perhaps  general  history 
in  which  I  had  had  no  systematic  instruction. 
Owing  to  this  fact  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
give  closer  attention  to  my  studies  than  ever  be 
fore. 

I  recall  that  after  my  election  as  president  of  the 
Temperance  Society  one  of  my  very  kind  teachers, 
Miss  Davis,  to  whom  I  have  previously  referred, 
met  me  as  we  came  down  from  the  assembly 

no 


ENDING       STUDENT      DAYS 

room,  and  calling  me  into  her  classroom  said, 
"Moton,  I  hope  you  won't  accept  any  other  office. 
It  would  be  very  bad  for  you;  a  number  of  your 
friends  among  the  teachers  are  afraid  that  your 
head  is  going  to  be  turned;  because  you  are  re 
ceiving  too  much  attention."  While  this  was 
somewhat  of  a  shock  to  me  I  received  it  with  good 
grace,  because,  as  my  Sunday-School  teacher,  I 
had  learned  to  value  her  opinions,  though  they  were 
often  expressed  with  embarrassing  frankness.  I 
carried  my  new  honours  as  best  I  knew  how,  and 
had  to  face  no  serious  difficulties,  for  as  a  matter 
of  fact  most  of  the  details  were  looked  after  by 
the  teachers,  who  were  on  the  administrative  com 
mittees  of  many  of  these  organizations. 

At  Christmas  time  there  was  an  occurrence  that 
tested  the  character  of  many  of  us  to  the  utmost. 
Two  nights  before  Christmas  the  young  men  had 
been  permitted  to  escort  the  young  women  home 
from  a  concert  in  the  gymnasium.  Everyone  was 
happy  and  prepared  to  enjoy  the  usual  Hampton 
Christmas.  If  anything,  we  had  made  more  elabo 
rate  preparations  that  year  than  usual.  Gen 
eral  Armstrong  had  invited  some  very  distin- 

iii 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

guished  guests  for  the  holidays,  among  them  Gen 
eral  Morgan,  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  with 
Mrs.  Morgan  and  a  party  of  friends  from  Washing 
ton.  Dr.  Washburn,  the  head  of  Robert  College  in 
Constantinople,  had  brought  down  a  party  of  foreign 
missionaries  and  there  were  many  other  distin 
guished  guests.  An  unusual  effort  had  been  made 
by  the  general  committee  on  athletics,  and  it  had 
been  planned  that  the  social  gatherings  should  be 
of  a  high  order.  The  programmes  for  the  debating 
societies  and  other  organizations  had  been  arranged 
with  much  care.  Each  holiday  night  had  been  care 
fully  planned  for.  As  we  left  the  gymnasium 
after  the  Christmas  concert,  each  young  man  es 
corting  a  young  woman,  we  were  stopped  after 
we  got  about  half-way  between  the  gymnasium 
and  Virginia  Hall  by  one  of  the  matron's  assistants. 
I  was  leading  the  line.  We  walked  up  to  two  ladies, 
one  of  whom  was  the  matron's  assistant,  and  who 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  a  narrow  passage 
way  between  one  of  the  buildings  and  a  laundry 
fence,  as  I  remember,  so  that  it  was  not  easy  to  pass 
without  brushing  them  aside.  One  lady  remarked, 
"We  did  not  understand  that  you  were  to  escort  the 

112 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

young  women  home  to-night ."  I  replied  that  it  was 
the  custom  to  do  so  and  nothing  had  been  said  to 
the  contrary.  She  said,  "Well,  we  will  escort  them 
the  rest  of  the  way."  I  thereupon  promptly  excused 
myself  to  the  young  woman  and  left,  and  every 
other  man  who  passed  along,  and  there  must  have 
been  about  two  hundred,  separated  from  the  young 
woman  whom  he  accompanied,  except  a  few  who 
refused  to  leave. 

The  next  morning  some  eight  or  ten  men  crowded 
into  my  room  before  breakfast,  demanding  that  I 
take  the  initiative  in  getting  suitable  reparation 
for  the  humiliation  which  we  had  suffered  the 
night  before.  Though  I  felt  the  humiliation  as 
keenly  as  any  one,  and  did  not  hesitate  so  to  express 
myself,  I  saw  at  once  that  those  young  men  were 
in  no  mood  to  listen  to  reason  from  any  one.  I 
suggested  that  after  breakfast  we  get  together  about 
twenty-five  young  men  representing  every  class  in 
the  school  and  also  the  Indian  students  and  go 
over  the  matter.  They  did  not  take  kindly  to  that 
suggestion,  but  they  argued  the  case  considerably, 
and  finally  the  majority  decided  against  my  pro 
posal.  At  breakfast  time  James  R.  Spurgeon, 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

now  a  lawyer  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  for  a 
time  after  his  graduation  Secretary  to  the  United 
States  Legation  in  Liberia,  read  a  notice  in  the 
dining  room  calling  a  meeting  of  all  of  the  young 
men  immediately  after  breakfast.  I  felt  that  the 
indignation  speeches  which  were  likely  to  be  made 
in  that  meeting  might  stir  the  boys  to  do  almost 
anything,  the  resentment  of  the  evening  before  be 
ing  very  strong.  There  were  quite  a  few,  however, 
especially  the  older  fellows,  who  agreed  with  me. 
I  did  not  go  to  the  meeting  but  a  committee  waited 
on  me  a  few  moments  after  the  students  assembled 
and  demanded  my  presence;  so  I  went. 

Spurgeon  was  the  temporary  chairman,  and 
called  the  meeting  to  order  with  a  fiery  introductory 
speech.  He  was  then  and  is  now  an  able  orator.  I 
was  nominated  and  unanimously  elected  chairman 
over  my  very  strong  protest.  I  insisted  that  I 
would  not  serve.  In  declining  I  had  the  chance 
to  say  some  things  I  could  not  otherwise  have  said. 
I  told  them  I  would  accept  the  chairmanship  only 
on  condition  that  the  decisions  of  the  chair  should 
be  strictly  observed.  I  used  the  opportunity  to 
make  an  appeal  to  the  cooler  heads  among  them  to 

114 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

do  nothing  for  which  they  would  afterward  be 
ashamed.  They  agreed  and  I  accepted.  Follow 
ing  the  perfecting  of  the  permanent  organization 
many  exciting  speeches  were  made.  The  indig 
nation  of  the  boys  was  tremendous.  I  realized 
that  I  was  facing  four  hundred  very  determined 
young  men,  who  did  not  quite  know  what  to  do 
but  were  determined  to  do  something.  One  reso 
lution  which  immediately  met  with  popular  favour 
was  to  the  effect  that  all  cooks,  milkers,  stablemen, 
and  workers  in  every  department,  boys  and  girls, 
would  strike  for  the  holiday  period.  In  this  the 
girls,  who  felt  as  strongly  in  the  matter  as  the 
young  men  and  were  waiting  on  the  other  side  of 
the  grounds  for  the  decision,  heartily  concurred. 
This  motion  was  going  through,  but  before  putting 
it  I  left  the  stand,  asking  my  classmate,  Spurgeon, 
to  occupy  the  chair,  while  I  took  the  floor.  I  hoped 
first  to  put  Spurgeon  in  a  position  where  he  could 
not  argue  against  me.  I  raised  the  question  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  having  the  cooks  and  waitresses 
and  waiters  and  milkers  stop  during  the  week  and 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  however  angry 
we  might  be  we  had  to  eat  and  though  the  boys 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

might  go  to  near-by  restaurants,  there  were  two 
or  three  hundred  girls  who  could  not.  I  raised 
the  question  as  to  the  common  sense  of  having  the 
cattle  and  other  animals  suffer,  calling  attention  to 
the  fact  that  they  had  not  committed  any  crime 
and  that  it  would  be  a  shame  not  to  feed  them  or 
care  for  them.  I  suggested  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  wait  on  General  Armstrong.  It  was 
clear  that  that  suggestion  would  not  be  accepted. 
I  then  offered  an  amendment:  that  we  refuse  to 
attend  any  socials  during  the  week,  but  that  we 
would  urge  every  student  to  perform  all  official 
duties,  such  as  attending  prayers  and  performing 
our  work  and  school  duties,  pointing  out  that  to 
stay  away  from  the  social  functions  would  be  just 
as  effective,  indeed  much  more  so,  and  would  give 
no  ground  for  any  "  come-back "  at  us  as  a  student 
body  or  individuals. 

This  suggestion  appealed  to  the  majority  of  the 
boys  very  strongly.  A  Sioux  Indian,  John  Bruyier, 
offered  an  amendment  to  my  amendment,  as  did 
also  another  classmate,  James  H.  Phillips — now  a 
successful  business  man  in  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
who  was  then  as  now  a  clear,  forceful,  and  effective 

116 


ENDING      STUDENT      DAYS 

speaker — to  the  effect  that  no  teacher  or  official  of 
the  school  should  know  of  this  decision,  that  no 
tices  would  be  given  and  arrangements  made  for  all 
social  and  literary  functions  as  usual.  In  their 
judgment  the  two  amendments  combined  would  be 
sufficiently  effective  in  teaching  the  Faculty  the 
lesson,  which  we  thought  they  needed  to  learn, 
about  "insulting  ladies  and  gentlemen  without 
cause.'5  In  the  end  these  amendments  were  car 
ried  and  a  solemn  pledge  taken  that  no  person 
should  repeat  our  decision  outside  of  that  meeting, 
except  to  the  committee  of  girls,  and  that  if 
any  man  appeared  at  any  one  of  these  functions 
he  would  be  dealt  with  appropriately  and  his  life 
in  the  school  made  so  miserable  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  him  to  remain. 

This  action  was  reported  to  the  girls,  who  met 
and  quietly  and  quickly  passed  similar  resolutions. 
At  evening  prayers  the  week's  programme  was 
announced.  Everyone  sat  quietly.  There  was 
to  be  an  entertainment  that  evening  and  various 
class  gatherings.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
see  that  no  student  entered  any  of  these  places, 
perchance  any  one  had  not  understood.  To  only 

117 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

one  place  did  any  students  go — two  boys  who  had 
not  heard  of  the  action  got  in  before  the  guard 
who  had  been  assigned  to  that  place  arrived  at 
his  station.  The  next  day  it  was  clearly  under 
stood  what  the  feeling  of  the  student  body  was, 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  week  the  holiday  pro 
gramme  was  abandoned.  It  was  evident  to  all 
concerned  that  the  students  had  resented  what  was 
considered  a  very  serious  infringement  on  their 
"rights."  The  teachers  felt  very  badly;  and  we, 
ourselves  felt  that  the  holidays  had  been  very 
dull  and  dreary,  but  we  all  found  ample  compen 
sation  in  the  fact  that  we  had  "disciplined"  the 
officials  of  the  Institute.  To  be  sure  we  deprived 
ourselves,  of  what  we  had  looked  forward  to  as  an 
unusually  gay  Christmas,  even  for  Hampton,  and  I 
rather  think  we  lost  more  in  this  direction  than  the 
teachers.  I  often  think  now  that  people  who  have 
to  do  with  student  bodies  sometimes  forget  the 
bitter  resentment  that  students  feel  for  certain 
"indignities,"  as  they  regard  them;  that  they  are 
too  often  inclined  to  forget  the  feelings  of  students 
and  consider  them  as  unimportant,  forgetting 
what  they  did  and  felt  when  they  themselves  were 

118 


ENDING       STUDENT      DAYS 

students.  Out  of  such  incidents,  when  properly 
handled,  students  sometimes  can  get  more  real 
education  as  to  how  to  meet  life's  problems  than 
perhaps  in  a  year  of  the  ordinary  conventional 
schooling. 


119 


CHAPTER  VII 

BLACK,  WHITE,  AND    RED 

ON  A  Saturday  night  just  before  the  close  of 
school,  General  Armstrong  invited  the  Senior  boys 
to  spend  an  evening  at  his  home.  He  told  some 
fascinating  stories  of  his  war  experiences  with 
Negro  soldiers,  the  Ninth  U.  S.  Coloured  Troops 
which  he  recruited  and  commanded  at  the  Battle 
of  Gettysburg.  He  showed  us  his  uniform  with 
a  colonel's  shoulder  straps,  which  his  mother  had 
just  sent  on  to  him  from  California,  together  with 
his  sword.  He  told  with  frankness  of  the  weak 
nesses  which  he  had  observed  in  Negro  soldiers  and 
of  their  strong  points  as  well,  but  he  showed  clearly, 
though  apparently  unconsciously,  what  wonderful 
growth  these  men  made  under  kind  yet  positive 
discipline.  We  had  a  most  interesting  and  instruc 
tive  evening.  As  the  party  was  leaving,  he  asked 
me  to  remain  for  a  few  moments,  saying  that  he 
wished  to  speak  with  me.  I  supposed,  of  course, 

120 


BLACK,       WHITE,       AND      RED 

that  he  wished  me  to  do  some  errand  for  him,  but 
to  my  great  surprise  he  began  by  asking  what  my 
plans  were  for  the  future.  I  told  him  something 
of  what  had  been  on  my  mind  with  regard  to  the 
school  plan  for  Cumberland  County  and  my  desire 
to  help  those  people  who  had  been  so  responsive  to 
and  appreciative  of  my  year's  work,  and  who  were 
very  desirous  of  having  me  return,  for  throughout 
the  year  I  had  been  receiving  letters  from  com 
mittees  as  well  as  individuals  urging  me  to  come 
back.  He  commended  the  scheme  and  pointed 
out  very  clearly  how  it  could  be  done,  what  a 
good  thing  it  would  be,  how  we  could  work  in 
cooperation  with  Hampton  and  bring  students  to 
a  certain  degree  of  academic  as  well  as  industrial 
development,  fitting  them  for  entrance  into  the 
Junior  Class,  at  Hampton,  he  thought,  without 
examination.  He  also  pointed  out  many  essential 
details  which  I  had  overlooked.  While  in  a  general 
way  he  heartily  approved  of  the  plan,  he  never 
theless  strongly  advised  against  my  undertaking  it 
for  at  least  a  year.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  me 
that  I  needed  more  experience,  and  suggested  that  I 
could  be  very  much  more  useful  to  my  race  and 

121 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

would  conduct  my  school  in  a  very  much  more 
satisfactory  way  if  I  would  remain  at  Hampton  for 
the  present  and  help  in  the  training  of  teachers  for 
the  large  number  of  public  schools  that  were  being 
opened  up  throughout  Virginia  and  the  South.  He 
would  accept  no  decision  at  that  time;  in  fact,  he 
did  not  give  me  much  chance  to  say  anything.  He 
simply  took  for  granted  what  I  would  do  and  how 
I  should  do  it.  "You  can  think  this  over/'  he 
said,  "and  let  me  know  if  there  is  any  reason  why 
you  should  not  take  up  your  duties  at  the  close  of 
school  as  assistant  to  Mr.  Freeland,  the  com 
mandant  of  the  school  cadets/' 

I  took  General  Armstrong's  suggestion  and  ac 
cepted  work  at  Hampton  as  assistant  to  the  com 
mandant,  but  decided  not  to  enter  upon  my  duties 
until  the  opening  of  school.  I  therefore  again 
secured  work  through  Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden,  then 
in  the  John  Wanamaker  store  at  Philadelphia. 
In  the  meantime,  it  seemed  advisable  that  Mr.  Free- 
land,  the  commandant,  should  go  out  through  the 
Indian  country  and  select  Indian  students  for 
Hampton,  this  custom  having  obtained  ever  since 
Captain  (now  General)  Robert  H.  Pratt  brought 

122 


BLACK,       WHITE,       AND      RED 

on  the  first  party  of  Indians  in  1878.  It  was  Cap 
tain  Pratt  who,  after  serving  for  a  short  time  at 
Hampton  with  the  Indians,  founded  the  famous 
Carlisle  School  over  which  he  successfully  presided 
for  many  years. 

Mr.  Freeland's  absence  made  it  desirable  for 
me  to  begin  work  at  Hampton  in  the  summer  as 
acting  commandant  in  charge  of  the  three  hundred 
or  more  Negro  and  Indian  boys.  Mr.  Ogden  readily 
released  me  from  my  engagement,  saying  that  he 
always  doubted  the  wisdom  of  the  Hampton  grad 
uates  coming  North  so  soon  after  graduation,  for 
fear  the  fascination  of  Northern  city  life  would  in 
cline  them  to  remain,  and  congratulated  me  that  I 
had  escaped  this  temptation.  I  took  up  quarters 
in  the  "Wigwam,"  the  building  in  which  the  Indian 
boys  were  housed.  General  Armstrong  used  to 
call  the  person  who  lived  in  the  building  the 
"House  Father."  It  so  happened  also  that  one  of 
the  teachers  who  had  been  engaged  to  teach  in  the 
Indian  school  for  the  summer  was  obliged  to  resign 
her  position  because  of  illness,  so  I  was  asked  to 
fill  her  place. 

While  I  had,  during  my  four  years,  been  in  more 

123 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

or  less  intimate  contact  with  Indian  students  on 
the  parade  ground,  in  classroom,  dining  room,  and 
elsewhere,  and  had  some  very  intimate  friends 
among  the  young  men,  I  had  never  before  taught 
Indian  pupils,  neither  had  I  gotten  a  very  clear 
insight  into  the  Indian's  attitude  and  viewpoint 
on  matters  in  general.  I  learned  for  the  first  time 
how  different  it  was  from  my  own.  I  was  surprised 
to  find  how  hard  it  was  for  many  Indians  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  customs  of  the  white  man,  for 
they  thought  the  old  way,  their  way,  better  and 
in  many  cases  gave  very  good  reasons  to  support 
their  view.  Their  opinion,  for  example,  about  the 
white  man's  religion  was  that  he  preached  one 
thing  and  frequently  practised  another;  that  he 
preached  human  brotherhood,  for  instance,  while 
very  few  whites,  so  far  as  the  Indians  could  ob 
serve,  actually  practised  human  brotherhood.  This 
thought  was  firmly  fixed  in  the  minds  of  many  of 
them.  This  was  a  new  experience  for  a  Negro,  for 
while  many  of  us  shared  this  view  about  the  incon 
sistencies  of  the  white  man  and  how  far  he  was 
from  actually  practising  his  religion,  we  had  never 
theless  adapted  ourselves  to  the  white  man's  ways, 

124 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

and  had,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  and  some 
times  anxiously,  absorbed  the  white  man's  civili 
zation.  The  nearer  we  came  to  it,  it  seemed,  the 
happier  we  were.  I  learned  for  the  first  time  that 
other  peoples  than  the  Negro  had  problems  and  race 
feelings  and  prejudices,  and  learned  to  sympathize 
with  another  race,  one,  too,  that  was  more  nearly 
on  a  plane  with  my  own  and  whose  difficulties  and 
handicaps  seemed  much  greater  than  those  of  my 
own  race.  Living  in  the  building  with  the  Indian 
boys  and  being  in  their  prayer  meetings,  and  often 
acting  as  pitcher  on  their  baseball  team,  along 
with  contact  in  the  Sunday  School  and  in  the 
day  school  classes  of  boys  and  girls,  all  gave  me 
occasion  to  study  more  or  less  minutely  the  Indian 
character,  especially  by  way  of  contrast  with  the 
Negro.  I  had  taught  Sunday  School  at  intervals 
during  my  entire  school  career  in  one  of  the  neigh 
bouring  coloured  schools,  and  I  remember  with 
what  enthusiasm  my  immature  Biblical  inter 
pretations  were  received  by  the  pupils  and  how 
comparatively  easy  it  was  to  drive  home  a  Bible 
lesson  from  every-day  life.  Not  so  with  the  In 
dians,  however.  They  agreed  that  the  point  was 

125 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

well  taken,  but  frequently  I  would  find  some 
pupil  raising  his  hand — sometimes  a  girl  who, 
I  thought,  was  paying  no  attention  to  what  was 
going  on — and  she  would  ask  why  Christian  white 
people  had  cheated  the  Indians.  Such  interrup 
tions,  of  course,  frequently  took  all  of  the  "wind 
out  of  my  untrimmed  sails." 

In  this  connection,  I  remember  that  General 
Nelson  A.  Miles,  then  major-general  of  the  United 
States  Army  on  an  official  inspection  of  Fortress 
Monroe,  sent  up  to  say  that  he  would  inspect  the 
cadets  at  Hampton  on  Sunday  morning.  During 
this  inspection,  as  the  adjutant  read  the  orders  for 
the  day,  General  Miles  heard  the  name  of  "Paul 
Natchee"  and  asked  if  Natchee  came  from  Fort 
Sill  and  if  he  had  been  at  Mount  Vernon  barracks. 
He  was  told  that  he  had.  The  General  then  said, 
"This  is  the  son  of  the  old  Chief  Natchee  whom,  I 
am  sorry  to  relate,  I  was  obliged  to  kill  because  of 
his  persistent  treachery."  He  asked  how  the  boy 
was  getting  along  and  expressed  a  desire  to  see 
him  before  he  left  the  grounds. 

We  then  marched  into  the  chapel  and  instead  of 
the  usual  Sunday  morning  sermon,  General  Miles 

126 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND       RED 

delivered  a  most  helpful  address.  I  had  given 
orders  to  have  Natchee  remain  after  church  and 
speak  to  me,  which  he  did.  I  brought  him  up  to 
General  Miles  with  all  of  the  deference  due  to  the 
General's  position,  accompanied  as  he  was  by  a 
large  retinue  of  army  officers  and  many  prominent 
civilians  as  well  as  several  naval  officers,  there  being 
at  that  time  some  war  vessels  anchored  in  Hampton 
Roads.  I  presented  Paul  to  General  Miles.  Ex 
tending  his  hand  he  greeted  this  boy  of  about 
seventeen  years  of  age  very  cordially,  unusually 
so  for  the  ranking  general  of  the  United  States 
Army,  and  in  the  presence,  too,  of  a  number  of  his 
subordinate  officers.  Paul  looked  him  straight 
in  the  eye,  did  not  salute,  and  refused  to  shake 
hands.  I  thought  he  had  not  observed  the 
General's  extended  hand,  and  in  a  whisper  I  said, 
'The  General  wants  to  shake  hands  with  you," 
but  in  typical  Indian  fashion  he  said,  "Know  it." 
General  Miles,  who  had  won  his  fame  as  an  Indian 
fighter  and  who  always  observed  every  movement 
about  him,  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Never  mind, 
Major.  He  is  an  Indian.  He  will  not  shake 
hands."  The  General  lectured  him  in  a  very 

127 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

kindly  way  on  his  stubbornness,  telling  him  that 
his  father  might  have  been  of  great  service  to  his 
race  but  for  his  indomitable  and  unconquerable 
stubbornness,  which  undoubtedly  Paul  had  in 
herited.  I  was  very  much  humiliated.  So  was 
Doctor  Frissell.  I  think  General  Miles  was  the 
only  person  present  who  was  not.  I  made  up  my 
mind  to  punish  this  young  man  very  severely,  and 
evidently  General  Miles  knew  it,  though  I  said 
nothing.  After  I  had  dismissed  Paul  the  General 
turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Do  not  punish  him.  He 
inherits  that  spirit.  It  can  never  be  gotten  out  of 
him/'  As  soon  as  I  had  an  opportunity  I  called 
Paul  in.  When  he  walked  into  the  office  he  said: 
"  I  ready  go  guard  house.  I  stay  there  thousand 
years,  never  shake  hands  wid  him.  He  killed  my 
father."  He  broke  down  and  wept,  and  through 
tears  he  murmured,  "  He  killed  my  father.  I  never 
shake  hands  wid  him.  I  never  speak  to  him." 

My  duties  included,  among  other  things,  clerical 
work  in  the  commandant's  office,  supervision  of 
the  drills,  and  instruction  of  the  battalion  in 
military  tactics.  Mr.  Freeland,  the  commandant, 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  ability  and  very  methodi- 

128 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

cal.  I  admired  the  ease  and  dispatch  with  which 
he  could  turn  off  the  immense  amount  of  work  that 
was  his,  and  the  way  in  which  he  never  permitted 
things  to  drag.  I  have  always  been  grateful  for 
my  experience  under  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  my 
plans  and  methods  of  work  during  the  twenty-five 
years  that  I  served  as  commandant  and  executive 
officer  at  Hampton  Institute  were  strongly  in 
fluenced  by  the  experience  which  I  received 
during  this  year's  contact  with  Mr.  Freeland. 

During  that  same  year,  when  I  was  travelling 
with  the  Hampton  Quartette  as  a  singer  and 
speaker,  while  en  route  between  Albany  and  Boston, 
General  Armstrong  took  the  opportunity  to  ask  me 
many  rather  interesting  and  searching  questions. 
I  had  been  acting  as  assistant  disciplinarian  under 
Mr.  Freeland.  I  did  not  know  whether  my  work 
had  been  satisfactory  or  not.  The  General  among 
other  things  asked  whether  I  thought,  with  the 
year's  experience,  if  left  entirely  alone  with  the 
discipline,  I  could  handle  the  situation  at  the  school. 
He  wanted  to  know  if  I  had  the  organization  of  the 
battalion  clearly  in  my  mind  and  if  I  could  handle 
it  successfully.  He  asked  me  many  questions 

129 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

about  the  school  in  general :  what  my  attitude  was ; 
if  I  had  noticed  any  differences  between  the  races, 
the  white,  the  coloured,  and  the  Indian;  if  I  had 
noticed  any  difference  between  the  Northern 
white  man  and  the  Southern  white  man.  He 
finally  ended  more  or  less  abruptly  by  saying,  "I 
want  you  to  familiarize  yourself  very  thoroughly 
with  all  phases  of  the  work  of  the  school,  not  only 
with  reference  to  the  discipline  of  the  young  men, 
but  everything  else  that  has  to  do  with  the  work." 
I  was  very  much  disturbed  because  from  the  tone 
of  his  remarks  I  was  rather  inclined  to  feel  that 
I  had  failed  in  my  work. 

We  went  on  to  Boston,  where  we  spent  many  days 
holding  meetings  in  the  interest  of  Hampton's  work. 
On  my  return  to  the  school  a  few  weeks  later  I 
went  directly  to  Mr.  Frissell,  the  chaplain,  and  did 
what  everyone  in  the  school  usually  did — teach 
ers  and  students  alike  when  in  trouble — I  asked 
him  what  General  Armstrong  had  in  his  mind. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  been  much  disturbed  by  the 
questions  which  the  General  had  asked  me.  He 
assured  me  that  I  had  no  need  to  be  disturbed, 
that  my  year  had  been  satisfactory,  and  that  the 

130 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

General,  as  well  as  others,  was  very  much  pleased, 
so  much  so  that  he  had  in  mind  asking  me  to  as 
sume  charge  of  the  Department  of  Discipline  and 
Military  Instruction  of  the  Institute.  Mr.  Free- 
land  had  resigned  and  General  Armstrong  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  place  a  coloured  man  for  the 
first  time  in  this  very  responsible  position.  He 
said  that  it  was  believed  by  many  that  Negro 
students  would  not  respond  to  authority  from  one 
of  their  own  number;  but  that  Booker  Washing 
ton's  success  at  Tuskegee  Institute,  and  the  very 
satisfactory  way  in  which  I  had  handled  some  deli 
cate  situations  during  the  year  between  the  teach 
ers  and  the  students,  as  well  as  between  Negroes 
and  Indians,  had  convinced  the  General,  as  well  as 
himself,  that  there  would  be  much  less  trouble  and 
friction  in  the  school  if  I  were  placed  in  charge  of 
the  discipline.  I  confess  this  was  a  very  great 
surprise  to  me.  Instead  of  appealing  to  my  pride  it 
almost  frightened  me  that  I  should  for  a  minute 
have  been  considered  for  such  a  position.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  was  not  my  intention  to  remain  at 
Hampton  for  more  than  two  years.  My  idea  was  to 
get  the  larger  experience  which  General  Armstrong 

131 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

had  suggested  in  the  conversation  at  his  house  the 
year  before  and  then  go  into  some  pioneer  work 
among  my  people.  The  truth  is  I  had  never  given 
up  the  idea  of  starting  the  school  in  Cumberland 
County,  and  was  also  interested  still  in  the  study  of 
law. 

Mr.  Frissell  remarked  to  me  in  the  same  conver 
sation  that  I  seemed  to  be  disturbed  by  the  sugges 
tion  that  had  been  made  and  at  the  idea  of  remain 
ing  at  Hampton,  and  I  reminded  him  that,  as  he 
knew,  I  had  always  had  in  mind  going  into  some 
work  in  the  rural  districts  and  that  he  and  General 
Armstrong  had  told  me  that  I  could  be  of  larger  ser 
vice  by  remaining  at  Hampton  for  a  while  and  help 
ing  General  Armstrong  and  himself  to  fit  students 
for  just  the  kind  of  work  that  I  had  in  mind  to  do. 

One  morning  some  days  later  I  marched  the 
boys  into  school,  and  went  to  the  office  somewhat 
troubled  because  it  seemed  to  me  the  boys  had 
drilled  worse  that  morning  than  usual.  I  had 
put  them  through  the  setting-up  exercises  and  the 
whole  thing  was  most  ragged  and  unsatisfactory. 
I  was  just  making  up  my  mind  to  take  the  whole 
group  for  what  was  called  "extra  drill"  in  the  after- 

132 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

noon  after  school,  taking  their  play  time  to  see  if 
I  could  not  by  some  possibility  lick  them  into  bet 
ter  shape.  I  noticed  that  morning  that  General 
Armstrong  and  Mr.  Frissell  had  been  walking  up 
and  down  the  road  facing  the  parade  ground,  appar 
ently  oblivious  to  what  was  going  on.  Nevertheless, 
I  was  anxious  that  the  boys  should  make  a  good 
showing,  or  at  least  do  ordinarily  well.  General 
Armstrong  walked  over  toward  me  and  without  any 
preliminary  remarks  said,  "  I  want  you  to  take  the 
responsibility  of  the  discipline  next  year."  Mr. 
Freeland,  he  said,  had  resigned,  and  would  probably 
be  made  chaplain  in  the  United  States  Army.  He 
went  on  in  his  characteristic  way  telling  what  he 
wanted  me  to  do,  what  improvements  he  thought 
ought  to  be  made,  and  what  results  we  ought  to 
accomplish.  I  tried  several  times  to  interject  a 
question  or  two  but  without  success.  He  paid  no 
attention  whatever  to  my  questions.  He  simply 
assumed  that  I  would  do  it.  Finally  I  got  a  word  in, 
with  Mr.  Frissell's  help,  to  the  effect  that  I  had  not 
planned  to  remain  at  Hampton  and  about  what  I 
had  looked  forward  to  doing.  He  asked  me  why 
I  wanted  to  go  into  pioneer  work  and  I  told  him 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

I  thought  I  could  best  help  my  people  that  way. 
He  said,  "You  want  to  be  of  the  largest  service  to 
your  race,  do  you  not?"  and  I  assured  him  that 
I  did.  Then  he  said,  "Hampton  is  the  place. 
Mr.  Freeland  will  be  leaving  in  a  few  weeks.  In 
the  meantime,  I  want  you  to  get  all  matters  thor 
oughly  in  your  own  hands."  I  finally  agreed  to 
take  the  work  for  two  years.  That  was  in  May  of 
1891.  I  entered  upon  my  duties  with  full  responsi 
bility  in  June  of  the  same  year,  and  remained  at 
the  Institute  during  the  summer.  I  took  up  my 
new  responsibilities  with  considerable  reluctance 
mainly  because  of  the  many  elements  that  entered 
into  it.  There  were  many  temperaments,  races, 
and  conditions  that  had  to  be  dealt  with.  There 
were  Northern  white  people  and  there  were  Southern 
white  people  on  the  Hampton  staff;  there  were  also 
coloured  people,  and  in  the  student  body  there  were 
young  people  from  the  North  and  from  the  South, 
the  majority,  of  course,  from  the  South.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  members  of  the  Indian 
race,  representing  perhaps  a  score  of  different  tribes, 
and  frequently  the  tribal  differences  were  as  great 
and  developed  stronger  feelings  than  racial  differ- 

J34 


BLACK,       WHITE,      AND      RED 

ences.  There  were  other  nationalities  represented 
in  the  student  body  besides  the  Negro  and  Indian: 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Africans,  Armenians,  Hawaiians, 
and  others.  So  I  entered  upon  the  work  with  many 
misgivings  as  to  the  chances  of  success.  I  knew 
something  of  the  difficulties  that  Mr.  Curtis  and 
Mr.  Freeland  had  had  to  face  in  adjusting  these  very 
delicate  relations,  and  consequently  was  surprised 
to  find  later  on  that  the  work,  while  exacting,  was 
not  so  difficult  as  I  had  thought.  I  had  from  the 
beginning,  it  would  appear,  the  cordial  good  will 
and  hearty  cooperation  and  help  of  almost  every 
one,  from  General  Armstrong  to  the  humblest 
student. 

In  the  following  November  General  Armstrong, 
while  in  the  midst  of  an  address  near  Boston,  was 
stricken  with  paralysis,  from  which  he  never  wholly 
recovered,  remaining  an  invalid  for  about  two  years 
thereafter,  but  entering  more  or  less  actively  into 
the  school's  affairs,  though  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  be  moved  about  in  a  wheel-chair.  During  this 
period  Mr.  Frissell  performed  the  more  active  duties 
of  principal.  I  learned  during  these  years  to  know 
General  Armstrong  very  much  better  than  ever  be- 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

fore.  I  had  previously  been  with  him  much  in  the 
North,  and  had  observed  many  things  about  him 
that  had  struck  me  as  unusual.  It  was  difficult  to 
understand  how  a  man  who  was  always  as  busy  as 
he  and  who  lived  under  such  continuous  pressure 
could  be  always  solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  the 
young  men  who  were  with  him,  Negroes  and  In 
dians,  for  there  was  usually  at  least  one  Indian  in 
the  party.  He  looked  personally  into  our  quarters 
to  see  whether  they  were  comfortable  or  not.  He 
did  the  same  with  respect  to  our  meals,  as  well  as 
other  matters  affecting  our  welfare.  Frequently  it 
happened  at  railroad  stations,  when  it  was  necessary 
to  hire  a  hack  for  ourselves  or  wagon  to  carry  lug 
gage,  that  he  picked  out  the  man  who  had  the 
poorest  horse  and  the  most  dilapidated  vehicle. 
One  day  when  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Daggs,  who  generally 
managed  our  party,  questioned  the  wisdom  of  our 
piling  into  a  hack  which  looked  as  if  it  would  break 
down  at  any  minute,  the  General  remarked  that  he 
always  selected  the  poorest  horse  and  hack  because  it 
was  evident  that  this  man  needed  the  money  more 
than  the  others.  He  added,  jokingly,  that  this  might 
not  always  hold  for  the  reason  that  sometimes  the 

136 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

evidences  of  poverty  on  the  part  of  the  hackman 
might  be  due  to  his  own  prodigality. 

One  day  in  May,  1893,  when  he  was  very  ill, 
he  sent  for  me  to  come  over  to  the  Mansion  House, 
but  this  was  against  the  doctor's  orders;  so  Mrs. 
Armstrong  and  I  agreed  that  it  was  wiser  for  me 
not  to  see  him,  but  he  insisted  upon  my  coming  and 
finally  she  thought  that  perhaps  it  was  better  that 
I  should  see  him.  He  remarked  that  he  wanted 
to  see  me  because  he  had  noticed  latterly  that 
students,  in  passing  his  home  to  and  from  their 
meals,  had  been  much  quieter  than  previously. 
During  his  confinement  to  the  house  he  had  en 
joyed  the  hearty  laughter  of  the  young  men  as  they 
passed  and  their  singing  of  plantation  melodies  and 
other  songs.  He  asked  me  the  very  direct  ques 
tion  if  I  had  given  orders  that  they  should  be  more 
quiet  because  of  his  illness.  There  was  no  way  to 
evade  the  question  so  I  had  to  admit  that  such  an 
order  had  been  given.  With  some  emphasis  he 
said  that  he  did  not  wish  to  have  his  illness  affect 
in  any  way  the  school's  activities;  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  have  any  change  made  even  in  the  event 
of  his  death.  "I  want,"  he  said,  "even  at  my 


FINDING      A      WAY     OUT 

funeral  that  everything  should  be  as  simple  as 
possible  and  that  the  school  should  be  interrupted 
for  as  little  time  as  possible";  and  then  he  further 
suggested  that  I  should  arrange  with  Mr.  FrisselFs 
approval  to  have  some  kind  of  concert  or  pleasant 
entertainment  or  something,  to  relieve  the  de 
pression  which  he  was  afraid  his  illness  was  causing. 
This  was  in  the  early  morning.  In  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  he  sent  for  me 
again  to  know  what  arrangements  I  had  made. 
I  understood  General  Armstrong  well  enough  to 
know  that  if  he  suggested  anything,  even  though 
he  might  say  there  was  no  hurry  about  it,  in  a 
very  few  hours  he  would  either  come  into  your  office 
or  call  you  into  his  and  ask  if  you  had  done  it,  so 
I  never  put  off  carrying  out  any  suggestion  or  re 
quest  or  order  that  he  gave.  So  when  he  called 
me  over  to  the  house  to  know  what  had  been  done, 
I  told  him  we  had  arranged  for  a  baseball  game 
the  following  afternoon  with  the  dining-room  men 
of  the  Hygeia  Hotel.  This  game,  as  it  was  played 
by  the  waiters,  always  brought  up  a  great  many 
guests  also  from  Old  Point  Comfort,  officers  as  well  as 
soldiers.  The  General  was  very  much  pleased  with 

138 


BLACK,       WHITE,      AND       RED 

this  arrangement  and  requested  that  it  should  be 
an  afternoon  holiday  for  teachers  as  well  as  students 
and  that  everything  should  be  shut  down.  I  could 
not  understand  how  a  man  who  was  desperately  ill 
— and  of  whom  we  were  expecting  every  minute  to 
hear  that  the  end  had  come — could  be  thinking 
about  such  matters  and  going  into  the  minutest  de 
tails  about  all  the  affairs  of  the  Institute,  especially 
as  they  affected  the  life  of  the  students.  Also  there 
were  certain  exceptional  boys  whom  he  knew, 
some  who  were  not  happy  or  satisfied  about  cer 
tain  matters  affecting  their  course  of  study  and  who 
had  been  in  to  see  him.  He  wanted  to  know  if 
these  matters  had  been  satisfactorily  adjusted. 

The  following  day,  the  nth  of  May,  1893,  the 
ball  game  was  played.  It  was  intensely  interesting. 
Throughout  the  afternoon  the  grounds  resounded 
with  the  tremendous  shouts  of  the  students.  The 
playing  was  good  on  both  sides.  The  cheering  was 
equally  loud  from  the  visitors;  for  they,  for 
the  most  part,  were  in  sympathy  with  the  waiters 
rather  than  with  the  students.  In  the  midst  of  this 
tense  situation,  about  the  seventh  inning,  with  the 
score  standing  "nothing  to  nothing,"  Mr.  Frissell 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

came  down  and  called  me  aside  and  asked  me  what 
I  thought  of  stopping  the  game,  for  General  Arm 
strong  had  just  died.  He  knew,  he  said,  that  the 
General  would  not  want  it  stopped.  I  told  him  I 
felt  sure  the  students  would  feel  embarrassed  to 
know  that  they  had  been  playing  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  even  though  General  Armstrong 
wished  it  so,  and  he  and  I  agreed  also  that  we  owed 
something  to  the  sentiment  of  the  community  and 
therefore  decided  that  the  game  should  be  stopped. 
General  Armstrong's  death  was  without  doubt 
the  most  serious  blow  that  the  Institute  had  ever 
received.  It  was  difficult  for  us  to  see  how  the 
school  could  exist  without  its  founder.  General 
Armstrong  was  a  man  of  great  force.  His  person 
ality  was  so  overwhelming  that  it  seemed  to  me,  as 
well  as  to  others  wiser  than  myself  no  doubt,  that 
no  one  could  carry  on  the  work  which  he  had 
founded  and  to  which  he  had  given  the  best  twenty- 
five  years  of  his  life.  Everybody  at  Hampton 
loved  Mr.  Frissell  and  had  the  greatest  respect  for 
him.  He  was  in  the  confidence  of  teachers  and 
students  even  more  so  than  General  Armstrong, 
but  we  seriously  doubted  whether  he  could  carry 

140 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

forward  the  work  of  Hampton.  In  fact,  many  felt 
quite  sure  that  he  could  not  fill  General  Armstrong's 
place.  And  as  I  think  of  it  to-day,  after  twenty- 
six  years,  I  am  convinced  that  we  were  right  in 
feeling  that  neither  Mr.  Frissell  nor  any  one  else 
could  be  to  Hampton  what  General  Armstrong 
had  been.  General  Armstrong  had  in  a  real  sense 
completed  his  work,  and  a  remarkable  work  it  was ! 
He  had  given  America  a  new  educational  idea  and 
developed  a  new  ideal  in  education.  He  left 
Hampton  in  such  condition  that  it  could  not  go 
down,  and  the  educational  method  which  he 
worked  out  at  Hampton  could  not  but  take  a 
stronger  hold  on  America  and  the  civilized  world. 

In  a  striking  way,  Doctor  Frissell,  in  the  twenty- 
four  years  in  which  he  presided  at  Hampton,  made 
his  work  as  perfect  and  complete  as  did  General 
Armstrong;  but  in  doing  so  he  filled  his  own  place, 
and  that,  too,  in  a  way  that  would  have  met  General 
Armstrong's  approval. 

One  would  naturally  expect  it  to  be  irksome  and 
disagreeable  to  ferret  out  irregularities,  punish  mis 
demeanors,  and  settle  disputes,  and  that  it  would 
tend  to  create  unpopularity  with  the  student  body, 

141 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

especially  with  those  over  whom  it  is  necessary  to 
assert  authority.  Added  to  this,  there  was  the 
difficulty  of  having  to  deal  with  Indians  as  well  as 
with  members  of  my  own  race.  Many  of  my  friends, 
therefore,  both  white  and  black,  told  me  frankly  that 
I  might  succeed  with  my  own  race  but  that  it  would 
not  be  possible  for  me  to  succeed  as  a  disciplinarian 
with  the  Indians.  They  felt  that  when  questions 
should  arise  between  the  two  races,  as  frequently 
happened,  it  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  settle 
them,  for  the  Indians  would  naturally  expect  me 
to  be  partial  to  the  Negroes,  while  the  Negroes, 
on  the  other  hand,  would  suspect  that,  to  escape 
this  criticism,  I  would  very  likely  be  partial  to  the 
Indians.  As  a  consequence,  they  thought  I  would 
constantly  be  in  a  dilemma  and  would  be  criticized 
for  what  I  did  as  well  as  for  what  I  did  not  do. 

I  realized  when  I  accepted  the  work  that  I 
would  have  to  face  difficulties,  yet  I  also  felt 
that  if  a  person  did  his  best  and  was  honest  and 
sympathetic  in  his  dealings  with  the  boys,  that 
both  Negroes  and  Indians  would  accept  his  deci 
sions.  During  my  twenty-five  years  in  the  work 
at  Hampton  I  never  had  occasion  to  believe  my 

142 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

assumption  incorrect.  To  be  sure  I  had  to  exercise 
discretion,  especially  when  disputes  arose  between 
tribes  or  the  two  races;  and  I  found  that  it  was  fre 
quently  very  much  better,  instead  of  giving  boys  de 
merits  for  personal  differences,  to  take  the  time  to 
lead  them  both,  if  possible,  to  see  their  mistakes;  and 
I  usually  found  then,  as  I  find  now,  that  there  are 
always  two  sides  to  a  controversy.  I  found  that  it 
was  usually  worth  while  to  take  the  time  to  bring 
them  to  the  point  where  they  would  be  willing  to 
apologize  each  to  the  other.  In  consequence,  I  have 
always  felt  that  much  of  the  friction  between  races, 
as  well  as  between  nations  and  individuals,  is  due 
to  misunderstanding,  that  if  people  would  take  the 
time  to  understand  one  another  and  get  one  an 
other's  point  of  view,  they  would  frequently  find 
that  things  are  not  so  bad  as  they  imagine. 

I  had  from  the  beginning  a  very  strong,  loyal 
first  assistant  in  my  work  among  the  boys,  a  man 
who  as  a  boy  worked  with  me  at  the  saw-mill  along 
with  Mr.  Palmer,  and  who  at  the  same  time  was 
my  room-mate.  This  was  Captain  Allen  Wash 
ington,  now  Major  Allen  Washington,  who  deserves 
the  utmost  credit  for  his  share  in  any  success 

H3 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

achieved  in  the  disciplinary  work  at  Hampton  In 
stitute  for  the  quarter  of  a  century  during  which 
I  was  responsible  for  it.  People  even  now  wonder 
and  frequently  ask  how  the  two  races — the  Negro 
and  the  Indian — get  along  together  at  Hampton. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  at  Hampton  there 
has  never  been  any  serious  manifestation  of  un 
pleasant  relations  between  the  two  races.  There 
are  certain  racial  characteristics  that  are  unmistak 
able,  and  the  two  races  are  in  some  particulars  as 
different  in  temperament  as  they  are  in  colour. 

Types  more  diverse  could  hardly  have  been 
selected  than  the  two  thus  brought  together  at 
Hampton.  The  Negro,  as  we  have  long  known, 
is  cheerful  and  buoyant,  emotional  and  demonstra 
tive,  keen  of  apprehension,  ambitious,  persistent, 
responsive  to  authority,  and  deeply  religious.  In 
striking  contrast  stands  the  Indian — reserved, 
self-contained,  self-controlled,  deliberate  in  speech 
and  action,  sensitive,  distrustful,  proud,  and  pos 
sessed  of  a  deep  sense  of  personal  worth  and  dignity. 

But  if  the  differing  characteristics  are  evident, 
the  similarity  of  the  two  races  in  condition  and 
prospects  is  also  striking.  The  Negro  and  the 

144 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND       RED 

Indian  have  both  been  retarded  in  their  develop 
ment,  alike  in  economic  and  social  progress.  They 
lack  equally  the  helpful  influence  of  heredity,  that 
tremendous  moral  momentum  acquired  only  by 
centuries  of  successive  and  cumulative  effort.  They 
are  both  aspiring,  the  Negro  with  an  earnestness 
that  often  outstrips  his  development ;  the  Indian  with 
a  dawning  realization  of  his  needs.  Both  still  need, 
as  do  some  other  races,  such  moral  and  mental  dis 
cipline  as  will  fix  in  them  habits  of  obedience,  order, 
accuracy,  application,  and  the  many  other  private 
virtues,  the  habitual  practice  of  which  makes  the 
man.  The  very  diversities  of  the  two  races  under 
instruction  at  Hampton  proved,  in  many  respects, 
to  be  helps  rather  than  hindrances  to  their  develop 
ment.  Each  served  in  many  instances  as  a  daily 
lesson  to  the  other  in  the  problems  and  difficulties 
of  life.  The  Negro  student  learned  that  he  did 
not  have  a  monopoly  of  the  troubles  incident  to 
the  effort  to  rise ;  that  his  is  not  the  only  race  that 
faces  a  struggle  in  securing  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  an  advanced  civilization.  The  Indian  student  saw 
the  arts  and  practices  of  this  civilization  acquired  and 
adapted  by  a  race  whose  development  corresponded 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

more  nearly  to  his  own.  He  caught  the  inspiration 
of  the  manly  endeavour  and  sturdy  self-reliance  that 
have  characterized  the  Indian  graduates  of  Hamp 
ton  in  all  their  subsequent  endeavours  among  their 
own  people.  Through  all  my  contact  of  thirty-one 
years  as  student  and  worker  at  Hampton  it  became 
increasingly  apparent  that  the  ground  of  racial 
adjustment  lies,  not  in  the  emphasis  of  faults  and  of 
differences  between  races,  but  rather  in  the  dis 
covery  of  likenesses  and  of  virtues  which  make  possi 
ble  their  mutual  understanding  and  cooperation. 

Soon  after  General  Armstrong's  death  and 
Doctor  Frissell's  election  to  the  principalship,  he 
told  me  that  he  would  like  to  have  me  make  up 
my  mind  to  remain  permanently  at  Hampton;  that 
he  thought  the  position  that  I  occupied,  especially 
as  affecting  the  delicate  relations  which  obtained 
at  Hampton  between  the  three  races  as  well  as 
between  the  two  sections  of  the  country,  was  of 
the  utmost  importance  and  that  he  needed  my  help 
in  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  the  Founder  regarding 
Hampton's  very  important  work  for  the  Negro  and 
Indian  races. 

Even  up  to  this  time  I  had  not  thoroughly  made 

146 


BLACK,       WHITE,       AND      RED 

up  my  mind  to  remain  at  Hampton  permanently. 
I  was  much  interested  in  the  experience  I  was  re 
ceiving  through  my  contact  with  teachers  and 
students.  I  continued  my  work  along  very  much 
the  same  lines  as  during  General  Armstrong's  life, 
giving  more  of  my  time,  however,  to  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  school's  affairs  under  Doctor  FrisselPs 
direction.  I  also  devoted  more  time  toward  the 
raising  of  funds  in  the  North,  thereby  relieving 
Doctor  Frissell  and  Dr.  H.  B.  Turner,  who  had  suc 
ceeded  Doctor  Frissell  as  chaplain  of  the  Institute, 
in  some  degree  of  the  burden  of  raising  money 
necessary  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  school. 

After  graduating  at  Hampton,  I  felt,  with  many 
of  the  other  resident  graduates,  that  our  education 
was  not  complete,  so  for  several  years  we  did  post 
graduate  work  in  certain  advanced  subjects  which 
had  not  come  in  our  regular  course.  The  first  few 
years  we  paid  for  this  instruction  ourselves,  but 
later  the  school  officials  felt  that  it  was  proper  for 
them  to  provide  teachers  for  this  work.  I  also 
continued  my  law  studies  one  evening  a  week  under 
the  tutelage  of  Mr.  F.  S.  Collier,  a  lawyer  in  the 
town  of  Hampton,  a  Southern  gentleman  who  not 

H7 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

only  gave  me  instruction  without  pay  but  allowed 
me  the  free  use  of  his  law  library. 

Through  the  generosity  of  Prof.  Francis  G.  Pea- 
body  I  had  the  opportunity  of  attending  several 
sessions  of  the  Harvard  Summer  School,  taking 
courses  in  gymnastics,  English,  and  composition. 
For  ten  years  I  had  continued  my  work  practically 
without  any  let  up,  except  for  Summer  School  and 
Northern  work  and  occasional  visits  among  my 
own  people  in  the  South. 

By  this  time  some  of  my  friends,  among  them 
Doctor  Frissell,  Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden,  and  Mr. 
Arthur  Curtiss  James,  the  latter  two  trustees  of 
Hampton  Institute,  felt  that  I  was  very  much  in 
need  of  rest.  They  said  I  showed  signs  of  fatigue, 
mental  and  physical,  which  I  confess  I  had  not 
observed.  Finally,  in  the  summer  of  1901,  Doctor 
Frissell  told  me  that  whether  I  wished  to  go  or  not, 
he  and  one  of  the  trustees  had  arranged  for  me  to 
take  a  trip  to  Europe  and  that  this  trustee  would 
provide  the  means,  adding  that  he  understood  that 
I  was  looking  forward  to  a  trip  at  some  time.  He 
gave  me  a  few  days  to  map  out  the  route  I 
would  like  to  cover. 

148 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

This  whole  conversation  with  Doctor  Frissell 
afterward  seemed  almost  a  dream.  The  idea  of 
actually  going  to  Europe  and  going  practically  any 
where  I  wished  to  go  was  almost  overwhelming. 
I  mapped  out  what  I  would  like  to  do  and  the 
countries  that  I  would  like  especially  to  see,  put 
ting  particular  emphasis  on  southern  Europe,  be 
cause  the  Italian  emigration  was  very  large  at  that 
time  and  I  was  anxious  to  see  another  people  who 
were  more  nearly  on  the  plane  of  the  majority  of 
my  own  race  in  America;  and  then,  too,  I  wanted  to 
see  Germany,  and,  of  course,  France  and  England. 
Doctor  Frissell  and  the  trustee  referred  to  offered 
many  suggestions  when  they  knew  exactly  what  I 
wished  to  accomplish. 

Accompanied  by  a  friend,  I  sailed  from  New 
York  in  May  of  the  same  year.  After  a  day  at 
the  Azores  we  landed  at  Naples  and  came  up 
through  the  principal  cities  of  Italy  into  Switzer 
land  and  Germany,  Belgium  and  France,  England 
and  Ireland.  Before  this  I  had  been  inclined  to 
feel  discouraged  at  times  about  my  own  race,  and 
whatever  people  might  say  with  reference  to  the 
advantages  of  the  Negro  in  this  country,  I  some- 

149 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

how  felt  that  he  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  scale 
of  development,  and  of  opportunities  as  well;  but 
after  seeing  conditions  in  southern  Europe,  es 
pecially  among  the  peasant  class,  my  ideas  regard 
ing  my~race  changed  entirely  and  I  realized  for  the 
first  time  that  the  Negro  in  America,  even  the 
most  backward  Negro  farmer,  notwithstanding  the 
unfairness  and  injustice  which  confront  him,  lives 
amidst  surroundings  much  more  encouraging  and 
hopeful  than  is  true  of  certain  classes  of  the  white 
race  in  Europe.  While  there  was  a  striking  dif 
ference  in  the  physical  surroundings  and  economic 
opportunities  between  the  southern  European  peas 
ant  and  the  average  Negro  tenant  farmer  or  renter, 
and  while  I  also  found  a  very  striking  difference  in 
the  wage  scale  which  affects  food,  clothing,  and  home 
life  in  general,  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  South 
ern  coloured  man,  there  was  another  difference  even 
more  striking,  and  that  was  the  fact  that  the  average 
European,  to  whom  I  have  referred,  was  inclined  to 
be  hopeless  so  far  as  any  improvement  in  his  present 
condition  was  concerned.  Few  of  them,  moreover, 
had  much  hope  of  improvement  for  their  children. 
They  themselves  were  living  much  as  their  fore- 

150 


BLACK,      WHITE,      AND      RED 

fathers  had  lived,  and  in  many  cases  they  had  lived 
for  generations  in  the  same  house  and  worked  on 
the  same  land  with  no  other  future  before  them 
save  a  desire  on  the  part  of  a  few  of  the  younger 
ones  to  go  either  to  North  or  South  America. 
This  was  about  the  only  ray  of  hope  they  had. 

On  the  contrary,  the  American  Negro  generally 
expects  that  this  year's  crop  will  pay  him  out  of 
debt  and  that  he  will  at  some  time,  in  all  probability, 
own  his  farm  and  house.  More  than  that,  he  ex 
pects  that  his  children  will  live  better  than  he 
lives.  He  looks  forward  to  their  becoming  educated 
and  owning  homes  and  land  and  prospering  gen 
erally.  To  me  the  most  striking  difference,  there 
fore,  was  a  difference  in  attitude  of  mind.  The 
firm  belief  of  the  coloured  man  in  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  right  and  justice  constitutes  his  largest 
and  most  valuable  asset. 

What  I  have  said  of  conditions  in  Europe  is 
true  to  some  extent  also  of  the  Negro  in  Jamaica. 
While  there  is  an  absence  there  of  the  outward 
manifestations  of  racial  antagonisms  such  as  fre 
quently  obtain  in  this  country,  and  while  the  diffi 
culties  in  Jamaica,  according  to  my  observations,  are 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

due  more  largely  to  differences  in  character  rather 
than  in  colour,  nevertheless  the  situation  so  far  as 
it  concerns  the  Negro  is  in  some  particulars  very 
much  like  that  of  the  peasants  of  southern  Europe. 
There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  these 
countries  and  our  own,  and  that  is  that  the  peasant 
in  Europe  and  Jamaica  has  no  fear  for  his  life ;  he 
need  not  fear  the  aggressions  of  the  lawless  element 
of  his  community.  If  a  crime  has  been  committed 
he  knows  that  the  guilty  will  be  tried  by  the  usual 
legal  process  and  punished  accordingly.  He  knows 
also  that  there  is  no  probability  of  unoffending  per 
sons  being  oppressed  and  terrorized  by  any  part 
of  the  community  because  of  the  alleged  miscon 
duct  of  some  member  of  their  social  or  racial 
group.  However,  at  the  end  of  this  trip  I  landed 
on  American  shores  with  the  feeling  that  whatever 
may  be  the  disadvantages  and  inconveniences  of 
my  race  in  America  I  would  rather  be  a  Negro  in 
the  United  States  than  anybody  else  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  My  subsequent  experiences 
abroad  have  confirmed  me  in  this  conviction. 


152 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WITH    NORTH    AND    SOUTH 

IT  is  sometimes  thought  that  schools  like  Hamp 
ton,  Fisk,  Atlanta,  Tuskegee,  and  others  are  at  a 
disadvantage  because  in  many  instances  the  heads 
of  these  institutions  have  been  obliged  to  spend  a 
considerable  portion  of  their  time  in  the  North 
raising  the  funds  necessary  for  carrying  forward 
their  work;  and  I  myself  have  shared  this  feeling 
to  some  extent.  It  has  also  seemed  to  me  a  matter 
of  deep  regret  that  men  like  General  Armstrong, 
Doctor  Frissell,  President  Ware,  President  Bum- 
stead,  Doctor  Cravath,  Doctor  Washington,  and 
others,  should  have  been  obliged  to  take  a  large 
part  of  their  time  and  frequently  all  of  their 
vacations  in  going  from  place  to  place,  often 
with  a  group  of  singers,  delivering  addresses, 
with  a  view  to  creating  interest  in  the  work  of 
their  institutions.  But  experience  has  taught 
me  that,  while  there  are  great  disadvantages, 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  compensating 
advantages. 

I  think  no  other  movement  has  kept  the  North 
so  well  informed  on  all  phases  of  conditions  in 
the  South  between  Negroes  and  whites.  The 
kindly  attitude  of  an  increasing  number  of  each 
race  toward  the  other,  and  the  growing  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  South  to  see  that  the  Negro  is  edu 
cated,  go  far  toward  creating  a  greater  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  North  in  the  welfare  of  the  Negro, 
and  a  broader  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  people 
of  that  section  with  the  efforts  which  each  race  is 
making  toward  cooperation  in  those  things  which 
make  for  the  development  of  the  South.  The 
heads  of  these  institutions  deserve  a  great  deal  of 
credit  for  the  vision  and  courage  displayed  in  thus 
interpreting  the  attitude  of  the  South  and  the  needs 
of  their  own  work. 

General  Armstrong  used  frequently  to  say,  forty 
years  ago,  that  the  North  would  change  its  attitude 
toward  the  Negro  if  some  strong  effort  were  not 
put  forth  to  prevent  it,  and  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
Hampton,  as  well  as  of  all  institutions  interested  in 
the  welfare  of  the  country,  to  bring  about  a  greater 


WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

sympathy  and  more  helpful  understanding  between 
the  sections. 

It  so  happened  that  in  almost  every  year  from 
the  time  of  my  graduation  at  Hampton  and  even  be 
fore,  I  spent  some  time  with  the  Hampton  party  in 
the  North — frequently  with  General  Armstrong,  and 
later  with  Doctor  Frissell,  usually  accompanied  by 
the  Hampton  quartette — trying  primarily  to  raise 
money  for  carrying  forward  Hampton's  work. 
During  that  period  we  visited  most  of  the  cities 
and  appeared  in  many  of  the  leading  churches 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River;  and  while  I  am  not 
sure  of  the  good  that  I  have  been  able  to  accom 
plish  for  Hampton  or  the  general  cause  in  this 
way,  I  am  very  sure  that  the  contact  with  promi 
nent  clergymen  and  laymen,  as  well  as  with 
thousands  of  less  prominent  people  of  the  va 
rious  denominations,  gave  me  a  kind  of  expe 
rience  and  training  that  is  to  be  had  in  no  other 
way. 

I  still  recall  some  experiences  I  had  on  one  of  my 
early  trips  with  General  Armstrong  as  a  member  of 
the  quartette  and  also  as  one  of  the  "campaign" 
speakers,  helping  to  raise  funds  for  the  Institute. 

155 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

I  had  gone  the  previous  spring,  while  a  student  in 
the  Senior  Class,  on  a  short  trip  to  Baltimore  and 
Washington,  but  this  time  we  made  quite  a  long 
tour,  going  throughout  New  England  and  visiting 
many  places,  including  Boston,  which  I  had  al 
ways  wanted  to  see.  I,  with  other  students,  used 
to  argue  with  Doctor  Frissell,  who  conducted  our 
Current  History  recitation  during  my  Middle  and 
Senior  years,  over  the  relative  importance  of  Vir 
ginia  and  New  York,  the  South  and  the  North,  and 
why  the  text  books  and  the  people  generally  spoke 
so  frequently  of  the  greatness  of  New  York. 
While  I  believed  what  the  text  books  said,  still  I 
always  had  a  feeling  that  Virginia  was  almost  as 
great  and  important  as  New  York.  I  argued  that 
while  New  York  was  a  very  important  seaport, 
Norfolk  was  also  a  very  important  seaport;  that 
the  Norfolk  navy  yard  was  about  as  great  and 
important  as  the  Brooklyn  navy  yard.  Doctor 
Frissell  never  permitted  himself  to  argue  with 
his  pupils  on  this  point,  apparently  lest  it  should 
lessen  their  pride  in  their  own  section  or  state; 
but  I  remember  how  on  this  trip,  one  Sunday 
morning,  as  we  were  returning  from  Brooklyn 

156 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

over  the  famous  Brooklyn  Bridge,  Doctor  Frissell 
pointed  out  the  elevated  railroads  in  New  York, 
the  Post-Office,  and  many  of  the  tall  office  buildings, 
and  asked  if  we  had  anything  like  that  in  Virginia. 
The  point  was  not  lost. 

As  our  meetings  during  the  week  were  usually 
held  in  the  evenings,  we  had  the  days  free,  which 
made  it  possible  for  us  to  spend  much  time  in  sight 
seeing  in  and  around  New  York.  One  evening,  rid 
ing  in  on  the  train  from  Orange,  New  Jersey,  I  was 
telling  Doctor  Frissell  what  I  had  seen  during  the 
day,  mentioning  Central  Park,  the  Zoological  Gar 
dens,  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  the  wonderful 
Palisades,  the  Egyptian  mummies  and  the  great 
Obelisk,  which  had  only  recently  been  set  up.  He 
and  General  Armstrong  asked  me  many  questions 
about  how  I  liked  these  things  and  what  I  thought 
of  them.  The  General  expressed  his  great  pleasure 
that  I  had  spent  my  time  so  profitably,  as  also  did 
Doctor  Frissell.  Doctor  Frissell  said,  with  a  little 
twinkle  with  which  those  of  us  who  knew  him  well 
were  familiar,  "  How  do  these  things  compare  with 
Richmond  and  Norfolk  ?"  I  finally  admitted  that 
I  supposed  New  York  was  a  greater  state  than 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Virginia,  and  any  Virginian  knows  how  hard  it  is 
to  make  that  admission;  but  I  still  believe  Virginia 
to  be  a  great  state,  my  only  concession  being 
that  I  believe  there  are  other  states,  North  and 
South,  equally  as  great,  with  people  equally  as 
good. 

There  were  for  me  many  very  interesting  inci 
dents  on  this  tour.  At  Troy,  New  York,  General 
Armstrong  was  given  a  banquet  by  some  thirty  or 
forty  men  of  the  remaining  members  of  the  com 
pany  that  he  had  recruited  in  that  city  when  he  left 
Williams  College  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War. 
Their  enthusiasm  for  General  Armstrong,  who  had 
been  their  captain,  was  most  impressive.  The 
quartette  sang  during  the  dinner  and  I  delivered  my 
little  address,  after  which  there  were  many  speeches 
by  these  veterans.  General  Armstrong  closed 
with  what  was  to  me  a  most  remarkable  and  touch 
ing  speech  on  the  race  question,  setting  forth  the 
duty  of  the  North  to  the  Negro  and  to  the  South ; 
the  reasons  why  there  should  not  be  any  bitterness 
between  the  two  sections  and  the  races;  and  what 
he  had  observed  in  the  Negro  as  to  his  possibilities 
as  a  useful  American  citizen.  In  fact,  this  was  one 

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WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

of  the  most  impressive  addresses  I  ever  heard  him 
deliver. 

At  Stamford,  Connecticut,  after  our  usual 
meeting  in  one  of  the  churches,  we  were  all 
invited  with  General  Armstrong  to  the  home  of 
Dr.  John  Lord,  the  historian,  where  the  quartette 
sang  many  numbers,  and  where  General  Armstrong 
was  asked  to  make  a  few  remarks.  When  General 
Armstrong  beckoned  for  me  to  come  over  and  I 
was  introduced  to  Doctor  Lord,  I  became  some 
what  confused  as  a  lady  whispered  to  me  that  this 
was  John  Lord,  the  historian.  I  was  familiar  with 
the  "Old  Roman  World"  and  his  "Beacon  Lights 
of  History,"  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  this  man, 
who  had  actually  written  books,  and  such  im 
portant  and  interesting  ones,  to  be  so  simple  and 
unaffected  in  his  ways.  He  moved  about  during 
the  entire  evening  telling  stories  to  one  group  after 
another,  and  spending  considerable  time  with  the 
members  of  the  quartette.  I  recall  that  he  had  a 
pipe  in  his  mouth.  It  was  sometimes  lighted  and 
sometimes  not.  It  was  frequently  right  side  up, 
but  I  think  that  it  was  more  frequently  upside 
down.  He  appeared  to  be  entirely  unconscious  of 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

himself  and  took  great  pleasure  in  seeing  that  the 
Hampton  students  especially  were  in  no  sense 
neglected.  His  pleasure  and  enthusiasm  over  the 
singing  were  most  evident.  The  truth  of  the  mat 
ter  is  that  he  was  so  simple  and  so  much  like  other 
people  that  I  was  almost  disappointed. 

Frequently,  at  very  important  meetings,  Doctor 
Washington  spoke  for  Hampton  with  Doctor  Frissell 
and  myself,  and  it  was  interesting  that  on  these 
occasions  he  rarely  ever  referred  to  his  own  splendid 
work  at  Tuskegee  Institute,  except  to  speak  of  it 
as  a  part  of  Hampton's  work. 

I  have  found  that  usually  Northern  audiences 
care  little  or  nothing  for  oratory  or  orators  as 
such.  A  simple,  straightforward  statement  of  the 
situation  as  we  saw  it  and  faced  it,  and  of  what 
Hampton  was  doing,  not  for  the  Negro  as  a  race 
merely,  but  for  the  Negro  as  a  part  of  the  citizen 
ship  of  America,  was  the  thing  that  usually  was  most 
appealing.  I  always  felt  that  my  own  talks  were 
unimportant  and  ineffective,  but  Doctor  Frissell  al 
ways  insisted  upon  my  going.  I  thought,  and 
frankly  said,  in  my  short  talks,  that  I  was  there 
because  Doctor  Frissell  wanted  to  use  me  as  a 

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WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

sort  of  sample  of  the  finished  product  of  Hamp 
ton. 

I  remember,  however,  a  large  meeting  at  a  Con 
gregational  church  in  Montclair,  New  Jersey,  at 
which  some  very  distinguished  speakers  were  pres 
ent,  and  that  I  made  my  talk  with  considerable  ner 
vousness,  and  was  very  much  surprised,  therefore,  to 
read  afterward  the  comment  of  Dr.  Amory  H.  Brad 
ford,  then  pastor  of  the  church,  which  I  quote  here: 

It  was  my  privilege  recently  at  a  meeting  held  in  the 
interest  of  Hampton  Institute  to  listen  to  three  very  able 
speakers.  One  was  a  distinguished  doctor  of  divinity,  who 
has  occupied  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  denomination  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  and  who  is  a  genuine  orator.  He 
knows  how  to  present  his  subject  as  few  men  do,  and  that 
night  he  was  singularly  persuasive  and  eloquent.  Another 
speaker  was  an  eminent  business  man,  who  had  his  material 
well  in  hand  and  who  presented  it  with  rare  discrimination 
and  ability.  When  they  had  finished,  one  could  hardly 
help  the  feeling  that  the  black  and  apparently  commonplace 
coloured  man  who  sat  upon  the  platform  would  hardly  keep 
the  meeting  on  the  high  level  that  it  had  already  attained. 
He  began  by  apologizing  for  his  presence  in  the  absence  of  his 
chief,  Doctor  Frissell,  who  was  ill,  but  he  had  not  spoken  for 
many  seconds  before  it  was  evident  that  he  was  a  natural 
master  of  assemblies.  With  ease  and  absolute  command  of 
himself,  with  clearness  and  with  entire  absence  of  self- 

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FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

assertion,  he  presented  his  thought  on  the  coloured  problem. 
There  may  have  been  abler  and  more  convincing  addresses 
on  this  subject  in  other  places,  but  I  am  ready  to  bear  my  tes 
timony  to  the  fact  that  never  here,  nor  elsewhere,  have  I 
heard  a  more  perfect  address  of  its  kind  than  fell  from  the  lips 
of  Major  Moton,  of  Hampton  Institute,  on  that  occasion. 
There  was  no  playing  to  the  galleries,  no  twisting  of  facts 
for  effect,  no  noise,  but  calmness,  moral  earnestness,  ex 
quisite  diction,  and  a  poetical  quality  that  made  the  speech  a 
gem  of  its  kind.  So  much  has  been  heard  about  the  impossi 
bility  of  uplifting  the  coloured  race  that  one  can  hardly  help 
asking  whether  Major  Moton  may  not  be  an  exception.  He 
is  no  exception.  The  same  may  be  said  of  a  large  number  of 
others. 

Doctor  Washington  also  of  course  saw  and 
appreciated  the  value  and  importance  of  this 
Northern  work.  While  it  took  a  great  deal  of 
energy — and  Tuskegee,  like  other  institutions, 
must  have  felt  the  effects  of  the  frequent  absence 
of  its  principal — yet  he  realized  that  the  work 
done  in  this  direction  was  very  much  worth 
while,  and  believed  that  "Extension  Work  in  the 
North"  is  a  "lateral  influence"  of  these  Southern 
institutions  for  which  not  only  the  Negro,  but  the 
South  as  a  whole,  should  be  grateful. 

Hampton  Institute  has  always  been  the  sub- 

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WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

ject  of  a  certain  amount  of  criticism  from  some 
people — not  that  they  objected  to  Hampton  as 
such — but  because  they  felt  that  Hampton's  em 
phasis  on  industrial,  or  vocational,  education  and  the 
popularity  that  Hampton  enjoyed  in  the  North 
and  in  the  South  reacted  to  the  disadvantage  of 
institutions  that  stood  for  higher  education  for 
Negroes.  General  Armstrong  was  always  conscious 
that  he  was  never  wholly  acceptable  to  the  rank 
and  file  of  coloured  people  for  that  reason. 

I  remember  that  a  very  important  convention 
of  coloured  ministers  was  held  in  the  town  of  Hamp 
ton  and  many  of  the  distinguished  visitors  to  the 
community  drove  through  the  grounds.  Certain 
of  the  more  prominent  members  of  the  party  re 
fused  to  get  out  of  their  carriages.  They  admired 
the  location  and  buildings  and  the  general  appear 
ance  of  the  campus  from  the  outside,  but  at  a 
private  banquet  one  evening  one  distinguished  man, 
in  speaking  of  the  community,  said  that  while  the 
Institute  physically,  from  what  he  could  observe, 
was  all  that  one  could  wish  and  that  he  was  glad 
that  the  Negroes  had  the  privilege  of  working  on 
such  a  campus,  as  a  matter  of  fact  General  Arm- 

163 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

strong  and  his  corps  of  workers  were  teaching  the 
Negroes  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water, 
and  that  at  bottom  he  was  training  the  Negro  boys 
and  girls  to  be  servants  to  the  white  race;  that  he 
never  saw  a  more  beautiful  campus  but  that  it  was 
in  his  judgment  a  "literary  penitentiary/'  It  was 
to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  Doctor  Frissell  in 
assuming  the  principalship  of  the  Institute  would 
have  to  face,  in  some  degree  at  least,  the  same  sort 
of  attitude. 

After  observing  this  condition  for  three  or  four 
years  I  finally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  op 
position  to  Hampton  was  due  largely  to  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  Hampton's  methods  of  work  and 
what  was  being  accomplished  by  those  methods. 
I  felt  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  Doctor  Frissell  and 
many  of  our  other  teachers  could  see  more  of  the 
coloured  people  and  if  coloured  people  could  be 
come  better  acquainted  with  them;  that  if  there 
could  be  a  clearer  understanding  between  Hamp 
ton's  faculty  and  the  coloured  men  and  women  with 
college  training,  from  whom  most  of  this  kind  of 
opposition  came,  it  would  do  much  toward  remov 
ing  what  seemed  to  me  unwarranted  antagonism. 

164 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

Doctor  Frissell  readily  concurred  in  the  sugges 
tion  that  we  have  at  Hampton  each  summer  what 
we  hoped  would  be  in  a  general  way  an  educational 
conference.  This  idea,  I  acknowledge,  grew  out 
of  the  idea  of  the  farmers'  conference  at  Tuskegee, 
which  had  been  introduced  some  years  before  by 
Doctor  Washington,  and  which  had  been  so  suc 
cessful  in  helping  the  Negro  farmer  in  the  rural 
South  to  do  better  farming  as  well  as  to  improve 
the  general  life  of  the  community  in  which  he  lived. 
The  difference  in  our  situation,  however,  was 
that  it  seemed  to  us  advisable  to  invite  to  our 
conference  the  educated  classes  of  Negroes,  es 
pecially  teachers  and  other  professional  men,  along 
with  editors,  business  men,  and  successful  farmers. 
At  our  first  conference  Doctor  Washington  pre 
sided,  after  which  time  it  seemed  to  me  and  to 
Doctor  Washington  also  that  it  would  be  better 
that  Doctor  Frissell,  the  principal,  should  preside. 
To  the  early  conferences  we  invited  no  white  peo 
ple,  either  Northerners  or  Southerners.  The  idea 
was  that  there  should  be  absolutely  free  and  frank 
discussion  and  criticism  of  Hampton,  Tuskegee, 
Doctor  Washington,  Doctor  Frissell,  and  any  one 

165 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

or  anything  else  that  might  come  up  in  the  course 
of  discussions.  Indeed  we  purposely  arranged  to 
have  papers  on  subjects  that  we  knew  were  under 
criticism  and  from  men  who,  as  we  knew,  opposed 
Hampton  methods. 

I  doubt  if  up  to  that  time  so  many  Negroes  of 
distinction  had  ever  come  together  in  one  assem 
bly  as  came  to  some  of  these  conferences.  The 
numbers  ran  from  three  and  four  hundred  to  a 
thousand,  including,  of  course,  large  numbers 
of  school  teachers.  These  people  spent  from  one 
to  three  days,  as  guests  of  the  Institute,  seeing  and 
studying  the  work  in  trades,  agriculture,  and  other 
lines  at  first  hand,  and  at  the  same  time  getting 
something  of  the  atmosphere  of  Hampton  and  its 
work.  We  had  present  on  these  occasions  such 
men  as  President  W.  S.  Scarborough  of  Wilber- 
force  University,  Dr.  Kelly  Miller  of  Howard 
University,  Mrs.  Fannie  Jackson  Coppin,  Prof. 
Hugh  M.  Brown,  President  R.  R.  Wright,  Prof. 
N.  B.  Young,  Prof.  C.  N.  Gresham,  Dr.  Inman 
Page,  Mrs.  Annie  J.  Cooper,  Dr.  W.  E.  B.  Du 
Bois,  Dr.  Francis  G.  Grimke,  Mr.  A.  H.  Grimke, 
Paul  Laurence  Dunbar,  T.  Thomas  Fortune,  and 

1 66 


WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

other  prominent  educators  and  leaders  of  thought 
among  our  people. 

I  do  not  think  that  anything  that  Hampton  ever 
did  served  more  to  change  the  attitude  of  coloured 
people  toward  its  work  than  this  movement,  which 
gave  them  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  what 
Hampton  was  doing,  the  type  of  student  de 
veloped,  and  something  of  what  these  students  ac 
complished  after  graduation.  It  may  be  said 
that  this  was  the  beginning  of  Hampton's  active 
extension  work.  As  time  went  on  white  people 
came  from  North  and  South,  and  the  discus 
sions  went  into  the  various  social  problems  such 
as  health,  housing,  business,  school  facilities,  and 
the  frank  discussion  of  race  relations.  The  col 
oured  people  told  how  they  felt  regarding  certain 
matters  affecting  their  relations  with  white  people, 
and  we  were  able  in  some  ways  to  get  a  clearer 
understanding  of  the  Southern  white  man's  point 
of  view.  In  all  of  these  discussions,  which  were 
always  frank  and  frequently  animated,  there  was 
never  any  personal  feeling  displayed.  It  had  the 
effect  not  only  of  giving  the  visitors  a  better  knowl 
edge  of  Hampton,  but  was  equally  effective  in 

167 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

broadening  the  knowledge  of  our  workers  and  stu 
dents  as  to  the  viewpoint  of  these  very  intelligent 
men  and  women  of  the  Negro  race.  As  a  result  of 
these  conferences  people  came  to  know  Doctor 
Frissell,  and  while  coloured  newspapers  frequently 
criticized  many  of  the  white  men  who  were  heads  of 
Negro  educational  institutions,  and  while  it  is  not 
improbable  that  they  did  not  always  agree  with  all 
of  Doctor  Frissell's  statements  regarding  the  Negro, 
they  rarely  if  ever  criticized  him,  and  for  twenty 
years  there  was  comparatively  little  public  criticism 
of  Hampton  Institute. 

It  was  in  this  period  of  my  life  at  Hampton, 
1905,  that  I  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Hunt 
Harris  of  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  who  entered 
heartily  into  the  spirit  and  life  of  Hampton  In 
stitute.  But  our  happiness  suddenly  gave  place  to 
a  great  sadness  on  account  of  her  illness  and  death 
after  little  more  than  a  year. 

The  extension  work  of  Hampton  Institute 
among  coloured  people  in  the  South  had  by  this 
time  so  developed  that  it  was  in  need  of  reorganiza 
tion.  Much  had  been  done  by  the  field  workers, 
under  the  general  direction  of  the  chaplain,  Dr. 

168 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

H.  B.  Turner.  Doctor  Turner  had  successively 
associated  with  him  in  this  capacity  various  grad 
uates  of  Hampton,  among  whom  were  Mr.  George 
Brandon,  Mr.  F.  M.  Fitch,  and  at  various  times 
Mr.  T.  C.  Walker,  a  very  successful  lawyer,  farmer, 
and  teacher  of  Gloucester  County,  Virginia.  While 
these  men  did  very  good  work  among  graduates  and 
former  students,  especially  in  rural  communities 
— activities  which  Dr.  Wallace  Buttrick,  of  the 
General  Education  Board,  so  aptly  called  "the 
lateral  influences  of  Hampton" — there  grew  out  of 
these  summer  conferences  a  more  definite  organi 
zation  for  working,  not  only  among  graduates  and 
former  students,  but  among  coloured  people  gen 
erally,  especially  in  Virginia  and  adjoining  states. 

At  one  of  these  conferences  a  committee  was  ap 
pointed,  of  which  I  was  made  chairman,  to  effect  a 
permanent  working  organization.  After  several 
meetings  and  much  discussion  we  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  Negroes  were,  along  many  lines, 
sufficiently  well  organized  already;  if  anything, 
they  were  over-organized.  There  were  business  or 
ganizations,  divers  farmers'  organizations,  organi 
zations  of  professional  men,  and  many  religious 

169 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

and  social  organizations,  besides  various  and 
sundry  secret  societies  and  lodges.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  there  are  very  few  coloured  people  who 
are  not  members  of  some  kind  of  organization,  and 
the  secret  society  to  many  is  almost  as  sacred  as  the 
Church  and  the  Sunday  School. 

Sometimes  people  who  do  not  know  are  in 
clined  to  ridicule  coloured  people  because  of  the 
many  and  varied  organizations  which  they  main 
tain,  but  in  this  connection  they  should  keep  in 
mind  that  the  Negro  is  accorded  but  little  share 
in  our  Government.  But  few  vote  and  almost  none 
hold  office.  He  is  not  even  permitted  to  sweep  the 
streets  in  many  cities,  because  this  is  considered  a 
political  job,  so  he  organizes  his  secret  societies, 
shrouded  often  in  mystery — the  more  mysterious 
the  more  popular — and  sometimes  it  is  true  that  he 
will  neglect  important  duties  to  go  to  his  lodge;  as 
a  consequence  of  which  many  people  are  inclined 
to  become  impatient  with  him.  But  the  employ 
ers  of  these  people  should  keep  in  mind  the  fact 
that  in  these  lodges  as  well  as  other  organiza 
tions  they  have  their  officers,  their  president  or 
"Grand  Master,"  or  perhaps  "Noble  Grand,"  their 

170 


WITH       NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

secretary  or  "Worthy  Scribe"  and  other  officials; 
that  they  have  a  regular  order  of  procedure  and 
each  member  has  the  chance  to  vote  and  also  to 
hold  office.  Parliamentary  usage  is  discussed  and 
followed  as  far  as  their  knowledge  goes.  One  not 
familiar  with  these  organizations  would  be  sur 
prised  to  find  how  accurate  often  is  the  knowledge 
of  Jefferson's  and  Cushing's  manuals  and  how 
closely  the  procedure  of  Congress  is  followed  in 
the  proceedings  of  these  sometimes  very  primitive 
bodies.  I  dare  say  that  frequently  too  much 
time  is  spent  on  points  of  order  and  other  tech 
nicalities  of  procedure,  but  all  of  this,  we  must 
remember,  contributes  to  the  race  an  important 
training  in  the  development  of  social  habits  and 
is  in  effect  an  effort — crude  perhaps  and  some 
times  amusing,  but  nevertheless  earnest — on  the 
part  of  a  cramped  people  to  express  themselves 
in  terms  of  democracy. 

In  view  then  of  the  existence  of  so  many  organi 
zations,  it  seemed  an  unwise  undertaking  to  start 
a  new  organization  that  had  nothing  concrete  to 
offer.  It  would  not  be  a  church  or  a  business.  It 
would  not  "take  care  of  the  sick  or  bury  the  dead, " 

171 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

as  was  true  of  secret  societies.  The  idea  was  to 
organize  Negroes  for  their  own  betterment,  to 
combine  some  of  the  energy  that  was  going 
into  various  things  into  one  movement  for  the 
development  of  the  entire  community.  So  it 
occurred  to  some  of  us  that  it  would  not  be  an 
unwise  move  to  "organize  the  organizations/' 
which  we  proceeded  to  do,  and  called  it  "The 
Negro  Organization  Society  of  Virginia. "  Our 
object  was  to  experiment  in  our  own  state  and  if  it 
proved  to  be  the  success  we  hoped,  it  would  of  its 
own  momentum  spread  into  other  states.  The 
motto  was:  "Better  Schools,  Better  Health,  Better 
Homes,  Better  Farms."  This  seemed  to  be  a 
platform  broad  enough  to  take  in  all  organiza 
tions  of  whatever  kind  or  character.  A  great 
many  organizations  as  well  as  individuals  accepted 
the  movement  with  enthusiasm.  We  elected  Prof. 
J.  M.  Gandy,  of  the  Virginia  Normal  and 
Industrial  Institute  at  Petersburg,  executive  secre 
tary,  with  more  than  the  usual  quota  of  vice-presi 
dents  and  members  of  the  Executive  Board.  For 
the  first  year  we  proposed  a  "Clean-up  Week" 
for  the  entire  state  of  Virginia,  and  with  the 

172 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

endorsement  of  Governor  Mann  and  the  State 
Board  of  Health,  as  well  as  the  State  Board  of 
Charities,  we  launched  a  health  campaign. 

I  need  not  mention  here  that  in  many  places  the 
white  people,  men  and  women,  as  well  as  the  civic 
authorities  throughout  the  state,  cooperated  with 
the  coloured  people  in  this  movement,  giving 
prizes  for  the  cleanest  homes,  stables,  and  back 
yards,  and  putting  carts  and  wagons  at  the  dis 
posal  of  the  coloured  committees.  It  was  said, 
when  the  campaign  was  over,  that  Virginia  was 
never  so  clean  in  all  of  its  history  as  on  that  Satur 
day  night  in  April,  1913.  We  had  asked  every  col 
oured  minister  in  the  state  to  preach  a  special 
sermon  on  Health  on  the  Sabbath  preceding,  and 
sent  out  literature,  including  circulars  and  statistics 
which  we  ourselves  prepared  and  the  State  Board 
of  Health  published;  so  that  we  had  not  only  a 
clean  state,  but  a  very  much  more  intelligent 
state,  especially  along  lines  of  sanitation  and 
health. 

The  next  year,  as  a  feature  of  the  same  sort  of 
compaign,  we  set  out  to  raise  three  thousand  dollars 
to  buy  a  farm  upon  which  we  were  given  to  under- 

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FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

stand  the  state  would  establish  a  sanitarium  for 
Negro  consumptives.  We  had  discovered  in  Vir 
ginia,  what  was  also  true  of  other  Southern  states, 
that  while  there  were  several  sanitaria  for  the  treat 
ment  of  white  consumptives,  the  only  two  places 
in  the  state  where  Negroes  could  be  treated  for 
tuberculosis  were  the  state  prison  at  Richmond  and 
the  insane  asylum  at  Petersburg;  so  that  a  coloured 
i  consumptive  in  order  to  receive  treatment  in  any 
institution  in  Virginia,  public  or  private,  had  either 
to  be  a  convict  or  insane.  We  used  this  argument 
most  effectively  in  our  campaign  for  funds  among 
coloured  and  white,  particularly  among  whites. 

The  white  people,  led  by  such  people  as  Dr.  J.  T. 
Mastin,  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities, 
and  Miss  Agnes  Randolph,  a  member  of  one  of 
Virginia's  leading  families  and  secretary  of  the 
Anti-tuberculosis  Society  of  the  state,  were  aroused 
as  never  before  to  the  appalling  need  of  attention  to 
the  situation.  It  was  pointed  out  that  the  ratio 
of  coloured  to  white  consumptives  was  something 
like  three  to  one,  and  inasmuch  as  Negroes  cooked 
the  food,  washed  the  clothing,  nursed  the  children, 
and  did  the  house  cleaning  for  a  great  many  of 


WITH       NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

the  white  people  of  the  state,  the  Negro  consump 
tives  among  them  ought  to  have  a  chance  for 
treatment,  if  for  no  higher  reason  than  to  pro 
tect  the  whites  themselves.  The  white  people, 
as  well  as  the  coloured,  learned  their  lesson  and, 
led  by  Miss  Randolph  and  encouraged  by  Dr. 
E.  G.  Williams,  chairman  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  the  matter  was  brought  before  the  State 
Legislature  which  readily  appropriated  sufficient 
money  to  erect  suitable  buildings  on  the  farm 
which  had  been  secured  by  the  Negro  Organiza 
tion  Society. 

At  our  first  annual  meeting  in  Richmond  Doctor 
Washington  was  invited  to  deliver  the  principal 
address,  which  he  did  then  and  continued  to 
do  at  all  subsequent  meetmgs  up  to  his  death. 
He  was  very  much  interested  in  this  organization 
and  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  nationalize 
it;  so  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  National  Negro 
Business  League,  over  which  he  presided  in  Boston 
a  few  months  before  his  death,  I  spoke  at  his  re 
quest  on  nationalizing  the  Negro  Organization 
Society.  I  was  never,  however,  enthusiastic  about 
having  a  national  organization,  for  the  reason  that 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

I  was  not  sure  it  had  in  it  all  the  possibilities  that 
many  other  people  thought  it  contained. 

To  our  annual  meetings  people  frequently  came 
from  other  states  without  invitation,  to  study  its 
operations  with  a  view  to  introducing  it  in  their  own 
states.  It  was  gratifying  that  there  were  few  or 
ganizations  in  Virginia  that  did  not  join  the  move 
ment.  Some  few  ministers,  Baptists,  felt  they 
could  not  affiliate  their  churches  with  anything 
except  an  ecclesiastical  organization;  but  at  the 
same  time  they  put  themselves  down  as  cooperat 
ing  or  contributing  members  and  instead  of  paying 
the  stipulated  membership  fee  of  five  dollars,  they 
took  up  a  yearly  collection  for  the  society,  which 
sometimes  amounted  to  as  much  as  fifty  dollars. 
Since  then  the  Organization  Society  of  Virginia  has 
grown  and  prospered  most  successfully  with  Major 
Allen  Washington,  my  successor  as  comman 
dant  at  Hampton  Institute,  as  president.  When  I 
left  the  state,  I  could  not  continue  as  president  of 
the  organization,  but  have  maintained  my  con 
nection  with  the  movement  as  honorary  presi 
dent.  During  the  war  it  proved  its  usefulness 
as  the  organization  through  which  all  of  the 

176 


WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

various  war  movements  in  the  state  operated  among 
coloured  people — Thrift  Stamps,  Food  Conserva 
tion,  Liberty  Bonds,  and  all  the  rest.  While  this 
movement  in  Virginia  has  done  much  along  the  lines 
of  its  motto,  its  most  significant  accomplishment  in 
my  opinion  has  been  the  bringing  together,  as  no 
other  movement  up  to  this  time  had  done,  of  the 
various  elements  of  the  coloured  population  of  the 
state,  such  as  Methodists,  Baptists,  Masons,  Odd 
fellows,  and  scores  of  other  social  groups,  into  a 
combined  effort  for  the  general  good. 

As  Bishop  L.  J.  Coppin  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  remarked  in  one  of  his  confer 
ences  regarding  the  Organization  Society:  "It  is 
a  good  thing  for  any  one  of  my  churches  to  share 
in  a  movement  that  is  working,  not  merely  for 
Methodists  or  Baptists,  but  for  the  highest  develop 
ment  of  all  humanity." 

But  aside  from  bringing  the  coloured  people  to 
gether,  what  is  of  equal  importance  with  this  is  the 
fact  that  the  Negro  Organization  Society  succeeded 
in  establishing  a  platform  upon  which  both  the 
white  people  and  the  coloured  people  could  work 
together  for  the  good  of  all  the  people.  Leading 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

white  citizens  united  with  the  leaders  of  our  own 
race,  and  met  frequently  to  discuss  the  needs  of 
the  situation,  such  as  law  enforcement,  housing, 
schools,  health  conditions,  and  other  topics.  White 
and  coloured  women  discussed  the  servant-girl 
problem,  the  protection  of  girls  in  domestic  service, 
the  importance  of  making  adequate  provision  for 
bathing  and  sleeping  in  order  to  secure  reliable 
help,  and  many  other  matters  affecting  the  rela 
tions  of  the  two  races.  lam  inclined  to  the  belief 
that  Virginia  is  probably  the  best-organized  state 
in  the  Union  so  far  as  race  relationships  are  con 
cerned,  and,  furthermore  I  do  not  think  that  I 
claim  too  much  when  I  say  that  it  is  largely  due 
to  the  effective  work  of  this  unique  organiza 
tion. 

A  short  time  before  the  beginning  of  the  Negro 
Organization  Society  some  of  the  leading  coloured 
people  in  Oklahoma  conceived  the  idea  that  it 
would  be  very  helpful  if  Doctor  Washington  would 
make  a  tour  of  that  state,  talking  to  white  and 
coloured  people,  with  reference  primarily  to  race 
relationships.  At  that  time  racial  bitterness  in 
Oklahoma  was  strong,  because  the  state  was  rapidly 

178 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

growing  very  prosperous,  the  coloured  people  as 
well  as  the  white  accumulating  considerable  valua 
ble  property,  thus  making  competition  in  business 
very  keen,  and  creating  more  or  less  racial  antago 
nism.  In  view  of  these  circumstances  certain 
coloured  men  of  the  state  arranged  this  trip,  and 
Doctor  Washington  invited  me  among  others 
to  accompany  him.  It  happened,  however,  that 
I  was  unfortunately  unable  to  leave  Hampton 
at  that  time.  When  I  saw  Doctor  Washing 
ton  in  New  York  a  few  weeks  after  his  return 
from  Oklahoma,  he  was  very  enthusiastic  over 
the  trip,  not  because  of  the  crowds  so  much  as 
over  the  spirit  in  which  they  had  accepted  hisj 
very  plain  advice  to  both  coloured  and  white  citi 
zens. 

Because  of  the  success  of  this  trip,  a  number  of 
prominent  coloured  men  of  Mississippi — among 
them  Mr.  Charles  Banks  and  Mr.  Isaiah  T. 
Montgomery  of  Mound  Bayou,  a  unique  Negro 
town  in  Mississippi,  Mr.  E.  P.  Simmons,  Mr. 
Perry  Howard,  a  leading  lawyer  of  Jackson,  and 
others — arranged  for  Doctor  Washington  to  make 
a  similar  trip  through  their  state.  He  again  in- 

179 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

vited  me  and  this  time  I  was  able  to  go.  It  was 
the  most  wonderful  experience  of  its  kind  I  had 
up  to  that  time  ever  had.  Crowds  of  people  met 
Doctor  Washington  at  every  place.  We  spent 
a  week,  beginning  at  Holly  Springs  and  going  to 
most  of  the  important  cities  in  the  state.  White 
and  coloured  vied  with  each  other  to  make  the  trip 
successful.  We  had  a  private  car,  in  which  the 
fifteen  or  twenty  men  of  Doctor  Washington's 
party  rode.  We  frequently  slept  in  the  car  at 
night,  especially  if  we  had  to  make  an  early  morn 
ing  start  to  fill  some  engagement.  There  were 
whisperings  to  the  effect  that  a  certain  element  of 
white  people  of  Mississippi  would  not  permit 
Negroes  to  ride  in  Pullman  cars  in  that  state,  but 
no  one  took  it  very  seriously.  Mr.  Banks,  who 
managed  the  tour,  kept  in  touch  everywhere  with 
the  authorities,  and  the  railroad  officials  were  con 
tinually  on  the  alert.  There  was  not,  however,  the 
slightest  semblance  of  trouble  anywhere. 

At  Jackson,  a  rumour  was  afloat  that  our  car 
would  be  blown  up  that  night  after  we  had  gone 
to  bed.  Doctor  Washington  and  the  rest  of  us 
were  advised  not  to  remain  on  the  car,  and  to 

1 80 


WITH      NORTH      AND      SOUTH 

change  our  schedule,  but  some  of  the  city  and  rail 
road  officials  heard  of  these  rumours  and  without 
our  knowledge  saw  to  it  that  the  car  was  guarded 
by  private  detectives  throughout  the  night.  Our 
first  intimation  of  this  came  to  us  from  a  railroad 
official  the  next  morning  as  we  were  about  to  leave 
Jackson  for  our  next  appointment.  He  also  told 
us,  what  we  believed  from  the  first,  that  there  was 
no  foundation  whatever  for  the  rumour. 

A  reference  to  this  trip  which  appeared  in  the 
Southern  Workman  shortly  thereafter  reflects  the 
impression  which  was  made  upon  me  at  that  time : 

What  surprised  me  most  in  this  experience  was  that  I  did 
not  find  the  coloured  people  in  Mississippi  nearly  so  badly  off 
as  I  expected.  The  newspapers  give  a  great  deal  of  space  to 
the  bad  things.  They  tell  you  of  the  mean  things  that  are 
sometimes  said  in  Mississippi — that  the  whites  have  no  busi 
ness  to  allow  Booker  Washington  to  hold  meetings  in  the 
state — that  Washington  is  a  menace,  etc.,  etc.  But  you 
seldom  hear  from  them  how  ex-governors  and  mayors,  minis 
ters  and  bishops,  professional  and  business  men,  Southern 
white  men  and  women  lent  their  presence  at  his  meetings 
and  expressed  their  approval  of  what  he  said  and  did. 

Mr.  Washington  stated  some  very  striking  truths.  Gov 
ernor  Vardaman,  and  anybody  else,  may  talk,  but  the 
white  people  are  not  fools  and  they  know  that  the  coloured 

181 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

man  has  the  labour  of  the  South  in  his  own  hands  and  that  he 
needs  to  be  educated  and  developed,  made  physically  and 
morally  clean  for  the  good  of  all  the  country.  Said  Mr. 
Washington:  "It  is  often  said  that  the  destiny  of  the  Negro 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  Southern  whites.  I  can  tell  you  that 
the  reverse  is  also  true — the  destiny  of  the  Southern  white 
race  is  largely  dependent  on  the  Negro.  In  every  Southern 
white  home  the  food  is  prepared  by  Negro  women.  Your 
health,  your  very  life,  depends  on  their  knowing  how  to  pre 
pare  it.  Far  more  than  that — the  white  youth  of  the  South 
are  being  trained  in  their  most  tender  years  by  Negro  girls. 
It  is  of  the  first  importance — to  you — that  these  should  be 
women  of  clean  character."  When  he  told  them  these  plain 
truths  the  white  people  accepted  them  with  applause.  He 
said:  "You  can't  have  smallpox  in  the  Negro's  home  and 
nowhere  else.  You  need  to  see  that  the  cabin  is  clean  or  dis 
ease  will  invade  the  mansion.  Disease  draws  no  colour  line." 
The  white  people  saw  the  point  when  Mr.  Washington  said 
these  things,  and  when  he  told  them  that  the  education  of 
the  Negro  is  needed  for  their  sakes  as  well  as  for  his  own, 
it  was  without  doubt  convincing.  I  have  never  felt  more 
hopeful  and  encouraged  about  my  people  than  I  have  since 
my  trip  through  Mississippi. 

From  that  time  until  his  death  Doctor  Washing 
ton  continued  to  make  similar  trips  in  other  states 
with  the  same  results.  These  tours  covered  Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Florida, 
Delaware,  Tennessee,  Texas,  and  part  of  Arkansas. 

182 


WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

The  last  trip  was  made  in  Louisiana  in  April  of 
1915,  and  Doctor  Washington  looked  forward  also 
to  going  through  Maryland  and  Georgia.  He  was 
kind  enough  to  insist  upon  my  accompanying  him 
on  all  of  these  trips.  He,  of  course,  was  the  prin 
cipal  speaker,  in  fact  the  only  speaker,  except  in  so 
far  as  some  of  us  would  say  a  few  words  at  the  be 
ginning.  He  was  always  pleased  to  have  the  large 
audiences  led  in  singing  Negro  melodies,  which 
part  I  usually  undertook.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  had 
such  a  sensation  as  we  experienced  at  Ocala,  Flor 
ida,  where  he  was  greeted  by  probably  twenty 
thousand  people  at  the  Fair  Grounds.  Just  before 
Doctor  Washington  was  presented  to  the  audience 
by  Judge  W.  S.  Bullock  of  Ocala,  he  asked  me  to 
lead  them  in  singing,  "  In  Bright  Mansions  Above"; 
and  when  we  were  all  singing,  the  white  people 
unconsciously  joining  in,  a  woman  of  an  East 
Indian  cast  of  features,  but  coal  black  and  wear 
ing  a  shawl  of  oriental  colours,  rose  in  the  audience 
and  with  an  exceedingly  melodious  voice  sang 
with  great  fervour  above  all  the  rest,  at  the  same 
time  waving  her  red  shawl  with  the  rhythm  of 
the  music.  The  entire  audience,  even  to  dignified 

183 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

judges,  began  swaying  with  the  motion  of  this 
wonderful  singing — and  everyone  sang.  As  we 
say  in  our  more  primitive  churches,  everybody 
was  truly  "happy."  Certainly  I  never  heard 
such  singing  in  all  of  my  experience.  It  seemed 
that  everyone  was  swept  along  with  the  emotional 
current  of  the  moment.  I  had  to  stop  the 
singing  for  fear  the  swaying  of  bodies  and  pat 
ting  of  feet  by  the  thousands  of  people  on  the 
grand  stand  would  break  it  down,  perhaps  with  in 
jury  to  many  and  great  loss  of  life.  When  Doctor 
Washington  rose  to  speak  it  was  plainly  evident 
that  he  was  deeply  affected.  I  had  heard  him 
deliver  hundreds  of  addresses  and  had  listened  to 
him  a  score  or  more  times  on  this  trip,  but  for  an 
hour  and  a  half  he  held  the  audience  absolutely 
within  his  grasp  and  he  kept  the  same  rapt  atten 
tion  that  had  been  inspired  by  the  music  from 
the  beginning  of  his  address  to  the  end.  He  told 
the  coloured  people  in  his  very  effective  way  of  the 
duty  they  owed  to  their  white  neighbours  as  well 
as  to  their  own  race,  touching  upon  the  importance 
of  industry,  thrift,  and  morality,  as  was  his  cus 
tom;  and  then  he  turned  to  the  thousand  or  more 

184. 


WITH       NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

white  people  and  told  of  their  duty  toward  the 
coloured  people,  producing  such  an  effect  on  the 
audience  as  is  altogether  impossible  to  describe. 
One  white  lady  in  describing  his  address  for  a 
Southern  paper  said  that  he  spoke  with  such  force 
and  vigour  that  she  thought  he  might  be  stricken 
with  apoplexy  at  any  moment,  and  that  his  sin 
cerity  and  earnestness  were  irresistible,  adding 
that  she  had  never  experienced  such  sensations  in 
all  her  life.  Then  she  said,  "Suppose  he  had  died? 
What  difference  would  it  have  made?  For  he 
could  never  hope  to  deliver  a  better  address,  or  do 
it  more  effectively  than  he  did  this  one,  nor  could 
he  ever  create  a  stronger  or  deeper  impression  on 
any  audience/'  For  the  moment,  indeed,  he 
seemed  almost  transfigured,  and  the  audience  with 
him.  I  recall  several  times  in  Louisiana  when  his 
physical  strength  had  waned  considerably  and 
when  he  was  perceptibly  losing  his  energy  and 
vigour  that  nevertheless  the  same  impressions 
and  emotional  sensations  were  created  as  those 
experienced  at  Ocala;  and,  except  for  the  absence 
of  the  extraordinary  excitement  produced  by  the 
woman  leading  the  singing  and  waving  her  shawl, 

185 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Doctor  Washington  spoke  with  as  much  vigour 
and  with  as  telling  effect  upon  his  audiences. 

I  am  glad  I  had  the  rare  chance,  not  only  of 
seeing  at  first  hand  the  actual  conditions  among 
my  own  race  and  the  relationships  existing  between 
the  races  in  these  various  states  in  the  South,  but 
of  being  with  Doctor  Washington  for  many  days 
at  a  time  in  close,  intimate,  personal  contact.  I 
am  glad  to  have  had  the  chance  of  seeing  how  he 
handled  delicate  situations  and  his  wonderful  poise 
throughout.  I  had  been  with  him  in  scores  of 
places  in  the  North  where  he  spoke  to  Northern 
audiences,  and  had  been  with  him  in  his  own  home 
and  mine;  for  I  had  been  married  again — this 
time  to  Miss  Jennie  D.  Booth,  a  graduate  of 
Hampton  who,  for  some  years  previous  to  our  mar 
riage,  had  been  a  teacher  in  the  Whittier  Training 
School  at  Hampton  Institute.  Often  we  talked  late 
into  the  night  on  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  and  the 
general  situation  as  affecting  the  Negro,  but  nothing 
in  all  my  contact  with  him  impressed  me  so  much 
as  these  occasions  when  he  courageously  pleaded 
the  cause  of  human  brotherhood  in  the  section  of 
his  country  to  which  he  had  dedicated  his  life. 

186 


WITH      NORTH      AND       SOUTH 

One  of  the  greatest  privileges  of  my  connection 
with  Hampton  was  the  unusual  opportunity  that 
came  to  me  of  touching  many  and  varied  phases  of 
its  work.  Having  the  direct  responsibility  for  the 
discipline  and  military  instruction  of  the  young 
men,  Negro  and  Indian;  having  a  share  in  the  ad 
mission  of  students  to  the  Institute,  adjusting,  as 
far  as  my  limited  ability  went,  the  relations  be 
tween  the  school  and  its  coloured  constituency; 
interpreting,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  the 
South  to  the  North  and  the  North  to  the  South; 
substituting  frequently  for  Doctor  Frissell  in  his 
absence  from  his  Sunday-School  class,  composed 
of  Post-graduates  and  Seniors;  and  leading  and 
interpreting,  as  a  layman  in  music,  the  plantation 
melodies,  or  religious  folk  songs  of  my  people ;  as  well 
as  helping  the  Institute  in  its  Northern  campaigns 
for  funds  and  its  Southern  extension  work — all  of 
this  gave  me  a  training  and  experience  the  value 
of  which  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  over-estimate. 


187 


CHAPTER  IX 

FROM    HAMPTON    TO   TUSKEGEE 

IN  1915  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Negro  Organ 
ization  Society  was  held  in  Petersburg,  and  Doctor 
Washington  had  as  usual  planned  to  attend  and 
had  promised  to  deliver  the  annual  address  for  the 
occasion.  It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  us  all 
to  receive  a  telegram  from  him  stating  that  his 
health  would  not  permit  him  to  be  present.  Doctor 
Frissell,  who  was  with  Doctor  Washington  in  New 
York,  came  on  to  Petersburg  and  explained  how 
serious  his  condition  was.  He  was  then  in  St. 
Luke's  Hospital,  New  York.  Ex-Governor  William 
H.  Mann  of  Virginia,  with  whom  Doctor  Washing 
ton  was  to  have  spoken,  delivered  a  strong  address, 
in  which  he  paid  high  tribute  to  the  distinguished 
leader  of  the  Negro  race,  whom,  he  said,  he  was 
glad  to  place  in  the  column  of  Virginia's  most  dis 
tinguished  sons. 

A  few  days  later  I  received  a  telegram  from 

188 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

Doctor  Washington  asking  me  to  come  to  New 
York  on  my  way  to  Detroit  and  Chicago  where  I 
was  to  fill  some  engagements  in  the  interest  of 
Hampton  Institute.  I  reached  New  York  on 
Thursday,  going  directly  to  the  home  of  Dr.  E. 
P.  Roberts,  one  of  our  leading  physicians  who, 
with  his  brother,  Dr.  Charles  H.  Roberts,  a  dentist 
of  the  city,  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Doctor 
Washington  as  well  as  myself.  Doctor  Roberts  had 
accompanied  Doctor  Washington  to  the  hospital 
and  was  well  acquainted  with  his  condition.  He 
informed  me  that  the  probabilities  were  that  Doc 
tor  Washington  would  not  be  with  us  much  longer. 
I  communicated  with  St.  Luke's  Hospital  and  Mrs. 
Washington  answered  that  her  husband  was  anx 
ious  to  see  me.  Going  immediately  to  the  hospital 
I  found  him  in  bed,  but  to  me  he  did  not  seem  as 
ill  as  I  had  expected  to  find  him.  His  mind  was 
as  clear  as  ever  and  I  somehow  felt  that  a  few 
weeks  of  rest  would  put  him  in  shape  for  the  per 
formance  of  his  usual  duties.  On  many  previous 
occasions  I  had  seen  him  in  much  worse  condition 
apparently  than  he  appeared  to  be  at  this  time.  I 
recalled,  for  instance,  that  at  Tampa,  Florida,  Dr. 

189 


FINDING      A       WAY      OUT 

J.  A.  Kenney,  the  resident  physician  at  Tuskegee, 
and  Dr.  George  C.  Hall,  one  of  our  prominent  sur 
geons  and  another  close  friend  of  Doctor  Wash 
ington,  spent  the  entire  night  with  him  and  it 
seemed  to  me,  who  occupied  an  adjoining  room, 
that  he  could  not  live  through  the  night.  The  next 
day,  however,  we  visited  the  Robert  Hungerford 
School,  founded  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Calhoun,  a  Tuskegee 
graduate,  in  which  Doctor  Washington  and  all 
Tuskegeeans  had  and  still  have  a  pardonable  pride; 
and  here,  as  well  as  at  Lakeland,  Florida,  he  spoke 
with  as  much  vigour  and  as  effectively  as  I  had 
ever  known  him  to  speak;  and  that  very  morning, 
while  waiting  for  the  meeting  at  Lakeland,  we  went 
fishing  on  a  near-by  lake,  with  Doctor  Washington 
the  most  enthusiastic  angler.  To  all  appearances, 
he  was  in  better  condition  than  those  of  us  who  had 
not  been  ill.  I  recall  the  frequent  surprise  of  Mr. 
Emmett  J.  Scott  and  the  two  physicians  as  well  as 
of  the  rest  of  us  at  the  apparently  excellent  con 
dition  in  which  we  found  Doctor  Washington  on 
the  days  following  these  sleepless  nights. 

In  our  conversation  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  Doc 
tor  Washington  did  not  refer  to  himself,  except  inci- 

190 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

dentally.  He  did  discuss  Tuskegee  in  many  phases 
and  told  me  that  Mr.  Rosenwald  was  due  at  Tus 
kegee  that  very  day  and  how  disappointed  he 
was  that  he  could  not  be  present  to  welcome  him. 
I  recall  how  warmly  he  spoke  of  Mr.  Rosenwald's 
personal  kindness  to  him,  and  of  what  he  meant 
to  the  Negro  race,  through  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and 
to  the  rural  school  building  programme  which  was 
just  then  beginning  to  get  under  way  at  Tuskegee 
Institute. 

At  his  request  I  called  on  Mr.  William  G.  Will- 
cox,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Tuske 
gee,  to  discuss  with  him  some  matters  touching  the 
affairs  of  the  Institute,  and  while  I  expressed  my 
hopes  for  Doctor  Washington's  ultimate  recovery, 
Mr.  Willcox,  knowing  of  course  what  the  physicians 
had  said,  was  not  hopeful.  He  discussed  with  me 
somewhat  the  future  of  the  Institute,  asking  who 
I  thought  would  be  the  best  man  to  take  up  the 
work  in  case  the  worst  should  happen  to  Doctor 
Washington.  I  mentioned  two  of  the  workers  at 
the  Institute,  of  whom  I  spoke  very  strongly.  He 
made  no  reference  to  me  personally.  He  went  into 
some  detail  as  to  what  I  thought  ought  to  be  done 

191 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

in  the  Institute  with  its  farm,  trades,  and  courses 
of  study.  I  gave  him,  of  course,  an  off-hand  opin 
ion.  He  discussed  various  matters  and  was  quite 
familiar  with  the  general  workings  of  the  Insti 
tute.  In  our  conversation  Mr.  Willcox  made  men 
tion  of  no  one  as  a  possible  successor  to  Doctor 
Washington.  As  for  myself,  I  thought  Doctor 
Washington,  if  he  did  not  wholly  recover,  would 
be  sufficiently  vigorous  to  continue  the  work  for 
many  years  to  come  by  giving  up  perhaps  some 
of  the  more  strenuous  phases  of  it.  While  still  in 
conversation  with  Mr.  Willcox  there  was  a  tele 
phone  call  from  the  hospital.  Mrs.  Washington 
informed  me  that  Doctor  Washington  was  very 
anxious  to  have  me  come  back  to  the  hospital 
before  going  to  the  train  that  night.  I  went 
back  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  till 
train  time  with  him  and  Mrs.  Washington.  He 
was  very  solicitous  about  Doctor  Frissell,  who  at 
the  time  was  not  very  well,  having  already  under 
gone  a  second  operation.  Doctor  Washington 
and  I  knew  of  Doctor  Frissell's  condition  and 
I  recall  Doctor  Washington's  saying,  "What 
will  the  race  do  without  Doctor  Frissell?"  He 

192 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

remarked  that  Hampton  itself  would  be  all  right, 
but  he  was  thinking  of  the  larger  work  of  Hamp 
ton,  the  various  phases  of  life  in  our  country  touch 
ing  the  races,  which  Doctor  Frissell  so  effectively 
served.  I  agreed  with  his  suggestion  that  he 
should  return  to  Tuskegee  as  soon  as  possible.  I 
thought  that  amid  familiar  surroundings  he  would 
recuperate  much  more  rapidly,  as  had  been  true  of 
Doctor  Frissell  a  few  months  before,  when,  against 
the  advice  of  his  physician  but  in  response  to  the 
wishes  of  friends,  he  had  gone  back  to  Hampton, 
which  proved  to  be  very  wise  on  his  part.  Doctor 
Kenney  and  Doctor  Roberts,  as  well  as  the  staff 
physicians  of  the  hospital,  held  out  no  hope,  but  I 
somehow  could  not  bring  myself  to  believe  that 
the  end  was  so  near.  This  was  on  Thursday  after 
noon  and  I  left  that  evening  for  Detroit. 

On  the  following  Sunday  I  received  a  telegram 
to  the  effect  that  Doctor  Washington  had  passed 
away  at  Tuskegee.  The  fact  dawned  upon  me  with 
a  peculiar  sense  of  personal  loss  such  as  I  had  never 
before  experienced  in  the  death  of  any  man,  not 
even  in  the  case  of  my  own  father.  The  coloured 
people  generally  throughout  the  entire  country 

i93 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

had  much  the  same  feeling.  Observing  them  as 
I  rode  on  the  train  the  next  day  on  my  way  to 
Tuskegee,  I  was  impressed  by  the  air  of  depression 
which  pervaded  every  group.  There  was  a  notice 
able  absence  of  the  usual  mirth  and  lighthearted- 
ness  generally  so  characteristic  of  them.  I  have 
never  known  anything  to  impress  the  coloured 
people  so  profoundly  as  did  the  passing  of  Doctor 
Washington.  I  had  often  heard  that  when  the 
word  came  that  President  Lincoln  had  been  shot 
the  coloured  people  went  about  as  if  they  had  lost 
the  dearest  member  of  their  immediate  family,  and 
that  this  feeling  was  largely  shared  by  white  people 
as  well,  especially  the  older  ones.  This  same  atti 
tude  seemed  to  prevail  among  the  coloured  people 
at  the  passing  of  Doctor  Washington. 

I  found  on  reaching  the  Institute  that  it  was 
Mrs.  Washington's  wish,  in  keeping  with  the  spirit 
of  Doctor  Washington  himself,  that  the  funeral 
service  should  be  very  simple,  that  there  should  be 
no  addresses  or  funeral  orations,  just  a  simple 
service,  with  the  singing  of  plantation  melodies 
and  some  of  his  favourite  hymns. 

As  a  part  of  this  service,  Doctor  Frissell,  who  had 

194 


FROM      HAMPTON      TO      TUSKEGEE 

been  one  of  Doctor  Washington's  early  teachers, 
offered  prayer.  The  following  passages  taken  from 
it  reveal  its  beautiful  spirit  and  touching  sympathy: 

"Thanks  be  unto  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory.".     .     . 

We  thank  Thee  for  thy  servant  whom  thou  hast  called  home 
— for  his  life  of  faith;  that  he  endured  as  seeing  him  who  is 
invisible;  that  like  Thy  servant  of  old  he  chose  to  share  ill 
treatment  with  the  people  of  God  rather  than  enjoy  the  pleas 
ures  of  sin  for  a  season;  that  he  counted  the  reproach  of 
Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt;  that  he 
looked  unto  the  recompense  of  the  reward. 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  life  of  love  that  he  lived;  that  no  man, 
white  or  black,  North  or  South,  could  drag  him  down  so  low  as 
to  make  him  hate  him.  And  that  he  taught  men  everywhere 
to  love  one  another;  that  he  preached  the  gospel  of  peace  and 
good  will.  We  thank  Thee  for  his  life  of  meekness,  that  his  life 
was  one  of  humility;  that  he  did  not  think  of  himself  more 
highly  than  he  ought  to  think.  And  we  thank  Thee  for  the 
inheritance  that  was  his  because  of  his  meekness.  We  thank 
Thee  that  he  did  inherit  the  earth. 

We  thank  Thee  for  his  loving  friends,  for  his  devoted  co- 
workers  and  pupils,  for  this  great  school.  We  thank  Thee  for 
his  life  of  service;  that  he  made  blind  eyes  to  see;  that  he,  like 
his  Master,  made  lame  men  to  walk;  that  he,  too,  brought 
liberty  to  the  captives.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  thousands  of 
better  homes  and  farms  that  he  made  possible.  We  thank 
Thee  for  the  better  schools  and  churches.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
thousands  of  purer  and  better  lives  which  he  helped  to  create. 

195 


FINDING      A       WAY      OUT 

And  now  we  dedicate  ourselves  anew  to  the  work  to  which 
Thy  servant  gave  his  life.  Help  us  to  realize  the  high  and 
holy  calling  that  was  his  and  is  ours.  Help  us  that  we  may 
carry  on  the  work  to  which  he  gave  his  life. 

Support  us  all  the  day  long  of  this  troublous  life  until  the 
shadows  lengthen  and  the  evening  comes  and  the  busy  world 
is  hushed  and  the  fever  of  life  is  over  and  our  work  is  done. 
Then  in  Thy  mercy  grant  us  a  safe  lodging  and  a  holy  rest 
and  peace  at  last  with  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  Amen. 

Following  this  prayer,  offered  by  a  man  whose 
own  days  were  numbered — as  a  few  of  us  knew 
at  the  time — about  a  man  to  whom  he  had  given  his 
entire  confidence  and  for  whom  he  had  the  most 
affectionate  regard,  a  former  pupil  of  his,  all  de 
pression  was  dispelled  and  the  great  audience 
seemed  to  get  a  new  vision  of  what  Doctor  Wash 
ington's  life  had  meant  and  to  feel  that  its  end  was 
indeed  a  victory. 

After  the  funeral  ceremonies  the  Hampton 
graduates  at  Tuskegee,  following  their  usual  cus 
tom,  asked  to  have  Doctor  Frissell  meet  them 
informally  later  at  the  home  of  one  of  their  number. 
In  the  course  of  the  evening  Doctor  Frissell  called 
me  aside  and  remarked:  "It  appears  you  will  have 
to  leave  Hampton  and  come  to  Tuskegee."  Now 

196 


FROM      HAMPTON      TO      TUSKEGEE 

it  was  in  May  of  the  same  year  that  Doctor  Frissell, 
as  he  was  leaving  Hampton  to  go  to  New  York  for 
his  second  operation,  had  called  me  into  his  office 
the  afternoon  before  his  departure  and  asked  me 
if  I  would  promise  him  that  I  would  remain  per 
manently  at  Hampton  Institute.  I  told  him  that 
I  would.  He  had  spoken  of  his  own  condition, 
saying  that  while  his  health  was  in  better  shape, 
so  the  doctor  said,  and  he  felt  better  than  when  he 
had  been  operated  on  two  years  before,  yet  he  was 
not  sure  what  the  outcome  would  be  and  that  if  I 
would  promise  to  remain  at  Hampton,  whatever 
happened,  he  would  feel  very  happy.  Of  course, 
it  was  not  difficult  to  promise  this  because  it  was 
wholly  in  keeping  with  what  I  had  planned.  After 
twenty-six  years  as  a  worker  I  had  rather  settled 
down  to  the  life  and  work  there.  I  was  enjoying 
my  work  and  was  especially  interested  in  the  de 
velopment  of  the  extension  department  in  con 
nection  with  the  Negro  Organization  Society. 
Doctor  Frissell  had  permitted  me  to  give  as  much 
time  as  I  wished  to  it,  and  I  had  taken  on  an 
other  assistant  in  my  work  in  the  Institute  in 
order  that  I  might  devote  more  of  my  time  to 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

extension  activities  in  both  North  and  South.  I  re 
minded  him  of  that  promise  made  a  few  months 
before.  He  said,  "Yes,  and  I  am  loath  to  have 
you  break  that  promise,  but  it  looks  now  as  if  you 
will  have  to  take  this  work.  There  will  be  a  great 
protest  at  Hampton  about  your  leaving,  but  you 
and  I  will  have  to  face  it.  Hampton  has  never 
refused  to  give  to  Tuskegee  anything  that  it  had, 
and  if  you  are  asked  to  take  this  work,  as  I  am 
afraid  now  that  you  will  be,  there  is  nothing  else 
for  us  to  do  but  consent." 

On  the  I4th  of  December,  1915,  at  the  request  of 
Mr.  SethLow,  chairman,  I  joined  the  Trustees' party 
as  they  were  returning  from  Tuskegee  after  their 
meeting  following  the  memorial  exercises  and  rode 
with  them  from  Charlotteville  to  Washington.  In 
the  party  were  Mr.  Seth  Low,  Colonel  Roosevelt, 
Mr.  William  G.  Willcox,  Mr.  Frank  Trumbull,  Mr. 
William  M.  Scott  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Mason  of  Boston.  They  informed  me  that  my  name 
was  under  consideration  as  Doctor  Washington's 
successor  at  Tuskegee  Institute.  I  told  them  of  my 
general  attitude  toward  the  matter.  I  told  them  of 
Doctor  Frissell's  condition  and  of  my  obligation  to 

198 


FROM       HAMPTON      TO      TUSKEGEE 

him  and  Hampton.  They  did  not  comment  on 
what  I  had  to  say  but  asked  a  great  many  questions 
about  various  matters  affecting  Tuskegee.  This 
was  especially  true  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  who  the 
next  day  sent  to  one  of  the  Trustees  who  was  not 
present  at  the  meeting  on  the  train  a  letter  contain 
ing  the  following  excerpt  describing  his  own  attitude 
in  the  situation,  a  copy  of  which  letter  he  later  sent 
to  me: 

We  all  of  us  ardently  wish  you  had  been  with  us  on  the 
train  when  we  saw  Major  Moton.  ...  I  am  more  im 
pressed  than  I  can  well  express  with  Major  Moton.  It  is  the 
greatest  relief  to  me  to  say  that  I  believe  that  if  he  is  ap 
pointed  we  insure  for  ourselves  every  reasonable  probability 
of  success  in  carrying  on  the  great  work  of  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington.  I  believe  that  he  can  run  the  institution.  I  believe 
that  he  will  get  on  with  the  Southern  people  as  well  as  any 
Negro  now  living — I  bar  Booker  T.  Washington  because  he 
was  a  genius  such  as  does  not  arise  in  a  generation.  I  believe 
that  he  will  get  on  with  Northern  white  men  and  be  able  to 
help  us  in  getting  the  necessary  funds.  He  has  a  very  power 
ful  and  at  the  same  time  an  engaging  and  attractive  person 
ality.  I  cannot  speak  too  strongly  about  the  favourable 
impression  he  has  made  on  me.  Finally  I  believe  that  he 
will  be  able  to  wisely  interpret  the  feelings  and  desires  of  his 
own  people  to  the  white  people  of  both  the  North  and  the 
South. 

199 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

The  vice-chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and 
president  of  the  Macon  County  Bank,  Mr.  W.  W. 
Campbell,  who  through  his  father  had  known  and 
been  interested  in  the  school  from  its  beginning, 
and  two  other  of  the  local  trustees,  a  prominent 
lawyer,  Mr.  C.  W.  Hare,  and  a  successful  coloured 
merchant,  Mr.  A.  J.  Wilborn,  as  well  as  others, 
were  particularly  anxious  that  the  man  who  should 
succeed  Doctor  Washington  should  have  the  right 
attitude  toward  both  races.  During  the  week  of 
the  ijth  to  the  2Oth  of  December,  Mr.  Campbell, 
I  afterward  learned,  being  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee  of  five  appointed  by  the  board  with  power 
to  select  a  principal,  without  the  knowledge  of 
any  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  made  a  trip  to  Virginia 
to  find  out  at  first  hand  what  the  people  of  that 
state  thought  of  the  man  proposed  for  the  principal- 
ship.  He  visited  Danville,  Lynchburg,  and  other 
places;  talked  with  the  president  of  the  University 
of  Virginia  and  on  the  streets  with  many  men, 
white  and  black;  and  then  proceeded  to  Rich 
mond  and  Hampton.  He  conversed  much  with 
the  people  of  Hampton,  among  them  Judge  C.  W. 
Robinson,  judge  of  the  circuit  court,  who  after- 

200 


FROM      HAMPTON      TO      TUSKEGEE 

ward  said  that,  while  he  was  a  truthful  man,  he  was 
tempted  on  this  particular  occasion  to  tell  Mr. 
Campbell  that  he  did  not  think  I  would  in  any  sense 
do,  owing  to  his  reluctance  to  have  me  leave 
Virginia.  After  he  questioned  many  people  in 
the  town  of  Hampton,  Mr.  Campbell  came  over  to 
the  Institute  to  call  on  Doctor  Frissell  on  Sunday 
afternoon.  He  and  Doctor  Frissell  had  a  confer 
ence  of  perhaps  an  hour,  into  which  they  later 
invited  me.  He  announced  frankly  the  purpose 
of  his  visit  but  said  very  little  regarding  what  he 
had  discovered  or  the  impression  that  had  been 
made  upon  him.  I  had  been  asked  to  meet  the 
committee  the  following  day  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Frank 
Trumbull  at  71  Broadway.  I  met  the  committee, 
composed  of  Mr.  Seth  Low,  Mr.  Frank  Trumbull, 
Mr.  Edgar  A.  Bancroft,  Mr.  Campbell,  and  Mr.  V.  H. 
Tulane,  the  last  mentioned  a  prominent  coloured 
business  man  of  Montgomery,  Alabama.  At  the 
close  of  the  meeting  Mr.  Campbell  assured  me  that 
all  he  had  heard  in  Virginia  was  satisfactory. 

The  outcome  of  it  all  was  that  I  was  asked  to  take 
the  work.  I  knew  the  difficulties  that  I  would  have 
to  face,  not  only  at  the  Institute  itself  but  in  the 

20 1 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

country  generally.  I  had  lived  a  sort  of  independ 
ent  life  at  Hampton  and  I  felt,  of  course,  that  I  was 
accomplishing  some  good,  and  while  I  was  in  no 
sense  lacking  in  appreciation  of  the  honour  and 
the  opportunity  offered  by  the  work  of  the  Tus- 
kegee  Institute,  I  had  no  particular  enthusiasm 
about  giving  up  the  life  and  work  at  Hampton.  I 
knew,  too, of  Doctor  FrisselPs  condition.  I  knew,  as 
very  few  knew  outside  of  his  immediate  family,  the 
character  of  his  malady  and  that  he  probably 
would  not  live  much  more  than  twelve  months 
longer,  and  while  he  had  released  me  from  my  prom 
ise,  nevertheless  I  felt  a  deep  obligation  both  to 
him  and  to  Hampton.  Mrs.  Moton — along  with 
many  of  my  intimate  friends  North  and  South- 
shared  this  feeling  very  strongly,  but  after  can 
vassing  the  situation  most  carefully,  Mrs.  Moton 
and  I  concluded  that  there  was  nothing  else  for  me 
to  do  but  accept.  To  enter  upon  the  varied  and 
delicate  responsibilities  growing  out  of  Doctor 
Washington's  life  work  was  not  to  be  lightly  under 
taken,  and  I  confess  that  I  would  have  had  many 
and  even  more  serious  misgivings  about  many 
things,  in  spite  of  the  assurances  of  Tuskegee's 

202 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

Trustees  and  of  many  of  my  own  friends,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  kind  and  generous  encouragement  of 
Doctor  Washington  himself,  given  at  a  time  when 
neither  of  us  contemplated  even  remotely  any 
possible  significance  and  value  that  might  attach 
to  his  statements  as  he  set  them  forth  in  his  book, 
"My  Larger  Education,"  from  which  I  quote: 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  come  into  contact  with  many 
different  types  of  people,  but  I  know  few  men  who  are  so 
lovable  and  at  the  same  time  so  sensible  in  their  nature  as 
Major  Moton.  He  is  chock-full  of  common  sense.  Further 
than  that,  he  is  a  man  who,  without  obtruding  himself  and 
without  your  knowing  how  he  does  it,  makes  you  believe  in 
him  from  the  very  first  time  you  see  him  and  from  your  first 
contact  with  him,  and  at  the  same  time  makes  you  love  him. 
He  is  the  kind  of  man  in  whose  company  I  always  feel  like 
being,  never  tire  of,  always  want  to  be  around  him,  or  always 
want  to  be  near  him.  Although  he  has  little  schooling 
outside  of  what  he  was  able  to  get  at  Hampton  Institute, 
Major  Moton  is  one  of  the  best-read  men  and  one  of  the 
most  interesting  men  to  talk  with  I  have  ever  met.  Educa 
tion  has  not  "spoiled"  him,  as  it  seems  to  have  done  in  the 
case  of  some  other  educated  Negroes.  It  has  not  embittered 
or  narrowed  him  in  his  affections.  He  has  not  learned  to  hate 
or  distrust  any  class  of  people,  and  he  is  just  as  ready  to  assist 
and  show  kindness  to  a  white  man  as  to  a  black  man,  to  a 
Southerner  as  to  a  Northerner. 

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FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

My  acquaintance  with  Major  Moton  began,  as  I  remember, 
after  he  had  graduated  at  Hampton  Institute  and  while  he 
was  employed  there  as  a  teacher.  He  had  at  that  time  the 
position  that  I  once  occupied  in  charge  of  the  Indian  students. 
Later  he  was  given  the  very  responsible  position  of  Comman 
dant  of  Cadets,  in  which  he  has  charge  of  the  discipline  of  all 
the  students.  In  this  position  he  has  an  opportunity  to 
exert  a  very  direct  and  personal  influence  upon  the  members 
of  the  student  body  and,  what  is  especially  important,  to 
prepare  them  to  meet  the  peculiar  difficulties  that  await 
them  when  they  go  out  in  the  world  to  begin  life  for  them 
selves. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  very  fortunate  that  Hampton 
Institute  should  have  had  in  the  position  which  Major  Moton 
occupies  a  man  of  such  kindly  good  humour,  thorough  self- 
control,  and  sympathetic  disposition. 

Major  Moton  knows  by  intuition  Northern  white  people 
and  Southern  white  people.  I  have  often  heard  the  remark 
made  that  the  Southern  white  man  knows  more  about  the 
Negro  in  the  South  than  anybody  else.  I  will  not  stop  here 
to  debate  that  question,  but  I  will  add  that  coloured  men  like 
Major  Moton  know  more  about  the  Southern  white  men  than 
anybody  else. 

At  Hampton  Institute,  for  example,  they  have  white  teach 
ers  and  coloured  teachers;  they  have  Southern  white  people 
and  Northern  white  people;  besides,  they  have  coloured  stu 
dents  and  Indian  students.  Major  Moton  knows  how  to 
keep  his  hands  on  all  these  different  elements,  to  see  to  it  that 
friction  is  kept  down,  and  that  each  works  in  harmony  with 

204 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

the  other.  It  is  a  difficult  job,  but  Major  Moton  knows  how 
to  negotiate  it. 

This  thorough  understanding  of  both  races  which  Major 
Moton  possesses  has  enabled  him  to  give  his  students  just  the 
sort  of  practical  and  helpful  advice  and  counsel  that  no  white 
man  who  has  not  himself  faced  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the 
Negro  could  be  able  to  give. 

I  think  it  would  do  anyone  good  to  attend  one  of  Major 
Moton's  Sunday-School  classes  when  he  is  explaining  to  his 
students,  in  the  very  practical  way  which  he  knows  how  to 
use,  the  mistake  of  students  allowing  themselves  to  be  embit 
tered  by  injustice  or  degraded  by  calumny  and  abuse  with 
which  every  coloured  man  must  expect  to  meet  at  one  time 
or  another.  Very  likely  he  will  follow  up  what  he  has  to  say 
on  this  subject  by  some  very  apt  illustration  from  his  own 
experience  or  from  that  of  some  of  his  acquaintances,  which 
will  show  how  much  easier  and  simpler  it  is  to  meet  prejudice 
with  sympathy  and  understanding  than  with  hatred;  to  re 
member  that  the  man  who  abuses  you  because  of  your  race 
probably  hasn't  the  slightest  knowledge  of  you  personally, 
and,  nine  times  out  often,  if  you  simply  refuse  to  feel  injured 
by  what  he  says,  will  feel  ashamed  of  himself  later. 

I  have  seen  Major  Moton  in  a  good  many  trying  situations 
in  which  an  ordinary  man  would  have  lost  his  head,  but  I 
have  never  seen  him  when  he  seemed  to  feel  the  least  degraded 
or  humiliated.  I  have  learned  from  MajorlVIoton  that  one 
need  not  belong  to  a  superior  race  to  be  a  gentleman. 

It  has  been  through  contact  with  men  like  Major  Moton — 
clean,  wholesome,  high-souled  gentlemen  under  black  skins — 

205 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

that  I  have  received  a  kind  of  education  no  books  could  im 
part.  Whatever  disadvantages  one  may  suffer  from  being  a 
part  of  what  is  called  an  "inferior  race,"  a  member  of  such  a 
race  has  the  advantage  of  not  feeling  compelled  to  go  through 
the  world,  as  some  members  of  others  races  do,  proclaiming 
their  superiority  from  the  housetops.  There  are  some  people 
in  this  world  who  would  feel  lonesome,  and  they  are  not  all  of 
them  white  people  either,  if  they  did  not  have  someone  to 
whom  they  could  claim  superiority. 

Immediately  after  my  election  I  was  asked  by 
the  Trustees  of  Tuskegee  Institute  to  devote  the 
next  few  months  to  helping  them  raise  a  fund  of 
$2,000,000  which  they  were  asking  of  the  public 
as  a  memorial  to  Doctor  Washington.  I  could 
not  undertake  the  work  immediately,  because  of 
a  number  of  speaking  engagements  with  Hampton 
which  were  to  last  until  the  early  part  of  February, 
at  which  time  I  entered  actively  into  the  effort  of 
raising  the  Memorial  Fund. 

In  the  meantime,  I  went  down  to  Tuskegee  during 
the  Christmas  holidays  and  remained  over  New 
Year's  Day  looking  into  things  and  getting 
acquainted  as  far  as  I  could  with  the  situation;  for, 
while  I  had  visited  Tuskegee  once  or  twice  a  year  for 
many  years,  and  had  looked  into  the  work  many 

206 


FROM   HAMPTON   TO   TUSKEGEE 

times,  it  had  never  occurred  to  me  that  I  would  ever 
work  at  Tuskegee,  to  say  nothing  of  having  the 
responsibility  for  all  its  activities.  I  met  the  heads 
of  the  various  departments  in  an  unofficial  way, 
talked  over  their  work  and  plans,  and  met  and 
talked  with  many  of  the  other  workers  as  well  as 
students,  trying  to  get  also  some  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  the  work  that  was  being  done  in  the 
trades  and  industries  as  well  as  in  the  academic 
department. 

In  the  interval  between  then  and  the  25th  of 
May,  the  time  set  for  my  inauguration,  I  had 
frequent  conferences  with  Mr.  Seth  Low,  the  chair 
man  of  the  Board,  and  could  not  but  observe  that 
he  was  not  very  well  and  that  each  time  I  met  him 
he  seemed  weaker  than  on  my  previous  visit.  On  a 
particular  day  in  April  when  I  dropped  in  on  my  way 
to  Boston  to  see  him,  he  turned  to  me  with  some 
emotion  and  said  he  was  very  sorry  that  he  would 
not  be  able  to  be  at  Tuskegee  for  Commencement 
and  the  inauguration.  "  I  had  looked  forward,"  he 
said,  "with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction 
to  inducting  you  into  the  principalship  of  Tuskegee 
Institute."  No  one  was  more  interested  in  the 

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FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

work  at  Tuskegee  Institute  or  more  anxious  for  its 
future  than  Mr.  Low.  I  recall  how  with  some  feel 
ing  he  advised  me  as  to  many  phases  of  the  work 
and  workers.  I  was  surprised  that  he  knew  so 
much  about  the  individual  workers,  even  as  to  their 
temperaments.  He  was  leaving  that  afternoon  for 
Broad  Brook  Farm,  where  he  thought  to  spend  the 
summer  and  regain  his  health.  I  never  saw  him 
again,  though  I  kept  in  touch  with  him  by  corre 
spondence  and  through  Mrs.  Low  and  Mr.  Trum- 
bull  more  or  less  regularly  during  the  summer. 


208 


CHAPTER  X 

AT  TUSKEGEE 

MANY  friends,  and  newspapers,  too,  urged  me  to 
make  a  statement  with  regard  to  my  future 
work  at  Tuskegee  Institute.  The  people  generally, 
especially  the  Southern  people,  were  anxious  to 
know  whether  there  would  be  any  change  in  the 
policies  of  the  Institute.  Accordingly,  I  thought 
that  the  inauguration  at  Tuskegee  Institute  would 
be  an  appropriate  occasion  to  set  forth  my  attitude 
and  views  concerning  those  phases  of  the  work  in 
which  the  public  was  most  interested.  Of  course 
I  realized  that  the  hundreds  of  interested  people 
who  assembled  here  for  the  Commencement  and 
inauguration  came  largely  because  of  their  interest 
in  Tuskegee  Institute,  and  because  they  wanted  to 
see  and  hear  the  man  who  was  to  succeed  Doctor 
Washington.  Mr.  Low,  the  chairman,  and  Mr. 
Campbell,  the  vice-president,  were  both  away  be 
cause  of  illness,  and  Mr.  William  G.  Willcox,  a  mem- 

209 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

her  of  the  Board,  presided  in  their  stead.  Among 
the  speakers  for  the  occasion  were  His  Excellency, 
Governor  Charles  Henderson  of  Alabama,  Doctor 
Frissell  of  Hampton  Institute,  and  President  H.  T. 
Kealing  of  Western  University,  Quindaro,  Kansas, 
representing  the  South,  the  North,  and  the  Negro, 
and  reflecting  in  their  words  the  kindly  interest  of 
the  three  elements  upon  whose  cooperation  the 
Tuskegee  Institute  has  been  built  up.  My  own 
address,  which  follows,  sets  forth  what  had  been 
frequently  and  urgently  requested  of  me  from  many 
parts  of  the  country: 

COOPERATION  AND  CONSECRATION 

At  a  time  when  racial  misunderstandings  and  sectional 
strife,  resulting  from  the  Civil  War  and  subsequent  recon 
struction,  had  reached  an  acute  stage,  when  well-meaning 
men  were  trying  to  find  an  adequate  method  of  racial  re 
adjustment,  a  Southern  white  man,  and  one  who  had  strong 
Southern  feelings,  who  saw  the  great  need  of  the  Negro  here 
in  Alabama  and  the  South,  and  who  was  filled  with  an  earnest 
desire  to  help  him,  wrote  to  a  Northern  white  man  with 
equally  as  strong  Northern  feelings,  inquiring  if  a  coloured 
man  could  be  sent  to  Tuskegee  to  begin  a  work  similar  in 
plan  and  purpose  to  that  which  had  been  started  at  Hamp 
ton — a  type  of  education  which  was  at  that  time  not  only 

210 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

woefully  misunderstood,  but  bitterly  opposed  by  many  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  Negro  race. 

On  that  day  in  July,  1881,  when  the  modest,  quiet,  unas 
suming  young  man,  Booker  T.  Washington,  reported  with  a 
letter  from  General  Armstrong,  his  former  teacher,  and  was 
cordially  received  and  welcomed  to  this  community  by  Mr. 
George  W.  Campbell,  then  it  was  that  a  form  of  cooperation 
began,  the  scope  and  effectiveness  of  which  were  destined  to 
command  the  respect  and  admiration,  not  only  of  this  coun 
try,  but  also  of  the  entire  civilized  world.  Here  met  the 
three  elements — the  North,  the  South,  and  the  Negro — the 
three  elements  that  must  be  taken  into  account  in  any  gen 
uinely  satisfactory  adjustment  of  race  relations.  It  was  nat 
ural  for  white  men  to  be  considered  as  important  factors  in 
any  and  all  adjustments  and  problems,  whether  civic,  busi 
ness,  educational,  or  otherwise.  Up  to  this  time  the  Negro 
had  usually  been  the  problem  and  not  regarded  as  an  element 
worthy  of  serious  consideration,  so  far  as  any  first-hand 
contribution  was  concerned  that  he  could  make  toward  the 
solution  of  any  large  social  question. 

These  two  men,  representing  the  two  extremes  of  sectional 
sentiment — Mr.  Campbell,  a  former  slave  owner,  the  South; 
and  General  Armstrong,  a  former  officer  in  the  Federal  Army, 
the  North — both  broad  in  sympathy  and  wise  in  judgment, 
and  entirely  void  of  any  selfish  motives,  both  actuated  by  a 
sincere  desire  to  reunite  the  nation  in  spirit  and  purpose,  as 
well  as  in  law  and  lineage,  both  patriotic  American  citizens — 
these  two  gentlemen  united  their  forces  for  the  primary 
object  of  lifting  the  burden  of  ignorance,  and  all  the  conse- 

211 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

quences  resulting  therefrom,  in  the  South.  Mr.  Campbell 
wanted  a  Negro  to  undertake  the  work,  and  General  Arm 
strong  knew  of  at  least  one  Negro,  Booker  Washington,  who 
could  do  the  work.  These  three  men,  in  a  united  purpose  for 
the  common  good  of  humanity,  began  a  cooperation  which 
has  been  strikingly  characteristic  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  and 
a  cooperation  vitally  necessary  in  the  promotion  of  any  suc 
cessful  work  for  the  permanent  betterment  of  the  Negro 
race  in  our  country. 

The  Tuskegee  School,  from  the  very  beginning,  has  had  a 
moral  and  material  support  and  backing  from  Mr.  Campbell 
and  other  white  people  in  this  community,  without  which  this 
institution  would  have  been  impossible.  No  one  knew  and 
appreciated  this  fact  more  than  did  Doctor  Washington,  and 
no  one  could  have  been  more  grateful  than  he  was  for  it. 
There  were  also  coloured  men  who  stood  by  the  founder 
of  Tuskegee  Institute  in  those  early  days.  In  his  autobi 
ography,  "Up  From  Slavery,"  Doctor  Washington  fittingly 
says: 

"In  the  midst  of  all  the  difficulties  which  I  encountered  in 
getting  the  little  school  started,  and  since  then  through  a 
period  of  nineteen  years,  there  are  two  men  among  all  the 
many  friends  of  the  school  in  Tuskegee  upon  whom  I  have 
depended  constantly  for  advice  and  guidance;  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  undertaking  is  largely  due  to  these  men,  from 
whom  I  have  never  sought  anything  in  vain.  I  mention  them 
simply  as  types.  One  is  a  white  man  and  an  ex-slaveholder, 
Mr.  George  W.  Campbell;  the  other  is  a  black  man  and  an 
ex-slave,  Mr.  Lewis  Adams.  I  do  not  know  two  men  whose 

212 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

advice  and  judgment  I  would  feel  more  like  following  in 
anything  that  concerns  the  life  and  development  of  the  school 
than  that  of  these  two  men." 

Needless  to  say,  Mr.  Wright  W.  Campbell  has  stood  by 
Doctor  Washington  and  the  school  with  the  same  devotion 
and  sacrifice  as  did  his  noble  father.  I  might  mention  also 
such  men  as  Mr.  Hare  and  scores  of  the  other  white  and  col 
oured  people  in  this  county  and  state  who  were  also  very  kind, 
sympathetic,  and  generous  in  those  early  days  of  the  school, 
and  I  am  glad  to  state  that  they  are  equally  as  sympathetic 
to-day. 

The  experimental  seed  of  this  new  cooperation  which  was 
planted  in  1881  by  Mr.  Campbell,  and  which  during  thirty- 
four  years  was  so  wisely,  patiently,  and  devotedly  nurtured  by 
Doctor  Washington,  has  grown  into  a  substantial  reality  in 
successful  racial  cooperation  and  helpfulness  here  at  Tus- 
kegee.  It  has  far  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expectations 
of  our  most  hopeful  friends  of  fifty  years  ago. 

This  unselfish  working  together  of  the  white  and  coloured 
races  was  truly  of  very  great  importance,  but  it  was  of  equal 
importance  to  prove  what  was  at  that  time  very  seriously 
doubted — whether  there  could  be  developed  within  the 
Negro  race  any  forceful,  unemotional,  business-like,  harmoni 
ous  working  together.  This  was  a  mooted  question,  and  one 
about  which  there  was  much  real,  though  often  kindly  and 
sympathetic,  skepticism  even  among  our  own  people.  Doctor 
Washington,  believing  as  he  always  did,  in  the  possibilities 
of  this  race,  set  out  to  prove  that  Negroes  could  work  to 
gether  and  under  Negro  leadership,  too,  in  educational  as  well 

213 


FINDING      A       WAY      OUT 

as  in  business  organizations.  The  success  which  those  who 
compose  the  membership  of  the  National  Negro  Business 
League,  as  well  as  many  others  outside  the  League,  have  had, 
was  to  him  a  reward  of  genuine  satisfaction  for  his  unfalter 
ing  faith  in  his  people. 

While  he  always  sought  the  advice,  criticism,  and  help  of 
the  white  race,  he  drew  the  "colour  line"  when  it  came  to  the 
actual  work  of  the  institution.  How  well  he  succeeded  is 
too  evident  for  comment.  These  grounds  and  buildings,  the 
consecrated  lives  and  work  of  the  men  and  women  whom  he 
gathered  about  him,  are  eloquent  and  convincing  evidence 
of  the  wisdom  of  his  course.  I  think  now  of  such  workers  as 
Mr.  Lewis  Adams,  Mr.  R.  H.  Hamilton,  and  Mrs.  Adela 
H.  Logan,  who,  like  our  great  leader,  "have  conquered  in 
the  fight."  We  have  with  us  still  such  faithful  workers  as 
Mr.  Warren  Logan,  Mr.  John  H.  Washington,  and  Mr.  C.  W. 
Greene,  who  were  willing  with  Doctor  Washington  to  bear 
the  "burden  and  heat"  of  those  early  days — these,  with 
many  others  of  the  pioneer,  as  well  as  the  present-day 
workers,  because  of  their  services  and  sacrifice,  have  made 
possible  the  Tuskegee  Institute  of  to-day,  not  merely  the 
grounds  and  buildings,  not  even  this  splendid  body  of  stu 
dents,  but  transcendingly  more  significant  and  beautiful, 
they  gave  us  the  "  Tuskegee  Spirit" — the  spirit  of  cooperation 
and  consecration. 

That  spirit  was  not  and  it  could  not  be  confined  to  this  cam 
pus.  It  is  equally  manifest  in  the  lives  and  work  of  the  thou 
sands  of  graduates  and  former  students  of  the  Institute  such 
as  Mr. William  J.  Edwards,  Mr.W.  H.  Holtzclaw,  Mr.  Edgar  A. 

214 


AT      TUSKEGE  E 

Long,  and  Miss  Cornelia  Bowen,whoare  but  types  of  hundreds 
of  others.  They,  like  our  great  teacher,  are  working  earnestly 
to  bring  about  a  clearer  and  better  understanding  between 
the  races,  "hastening  that  far-off  divine  event  toward  which 
the  whole  creation  moves." 

Doctor  Washington's  ideas  of  education  appeared  so  sim 
ple,  so  unconventional,  and  even  so  unacademic,  so  vastly  dif 
ferent  from  what  had  previously  been  expected  of  an  educa 
tional  institution,  that  he  was  often  misunderstood.  His 
methods  and  motives  were  candidly  questioned  in  some  quar 
ters  by  some  honest  people,  especially  by  members  of  his  own 
race.  This  feeling  took  such  form  as  would  have  discouraged 
and  hampered  an  ordinary  man,  but  with  Doctor  Washington, 
who  was  truly  a  prophet  and  a  seer,  such  opposition  served 
only  as  a  spur  to  greater  and  more  persistent  efforts. 

When  it  was  said  that  he  did  not  approve  of  higher  educa 
tion  for  the  Negro,  he  was  at  that  time  giving  employment 
here  to  more  Negroes  with  college  training  than  any  other 
single  institution  in  the  land.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  trus 
tee  of  both  Howard  and  Fisk  Universities  shows  that  he  was 
in  accord  with  such  work.  Education  was  to  him  the  means 
only,  and  not  the  end.  The  end  was  life — the  life  of  the  ig 
norant,  poverty-stricken  Negro  who  was  earnestly  longing 
for  a  chance.  Doctor  Washington  cared  little  about  the 
kind  of  education  the  Negro  received,  but  he  was  exceedingly 
anxious  that  it  should  be  thorough  and  well-suited  to  his 
reasonably  immediate  needs.  The  truth  is,  the  need  of  in 
dustry  and  skill,  of  honesty  and  efficiency,  the  lack  of  land 
and  decent  homes,  the  imperative  necessity  for  better  meth- 

215 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ods  of  farming,  together  with  a  woeful  lack  of  morality,  which 
was  prevalent  among  many  of  the  untrained  millions  of 
Negroes — all  this  made  such  a  strong  appeal  that  any  system 
of  education  which  did  not  offer  immediate  relief  for  these 
masses  made  comparatively  little  impression  on  him. 

Doctor  Washington  worked  out  a  plan  of  education  which 
showed  that  the  training  of  the  hand  should  strengthen  and 
supplement  the  mental  and  moral  activities,  especially  of 
those  who  were  fitting  themselves  for  leadership.  This 
system  of  all-round  education  for  larger  service,  which  was 
so  effectively  carried  on  under  his  direction,  has  been  so  pro 
ductive  of  good  results  that  it  has  attracted  the  attention 
and  respect  of  educators  the  world  over.  He  worked  out 
here  a  system  of  correlation  of  work  and  study,  of  industrial 
and  academic  instruction,  as  complete  and  as  satisfactory 
as  could  probably  be  found  anywhere.  Important  and 
satisfactory  as  this  system  was,  however,  the  spirit  back  of  it 
was  of  infinitely  greater  importance.  It  was  the  spirit  of 
cooperation  between  the  coloured  workers  in  the  school  and 
the  white  citizens  outside  of  the  school,  and  a  consecration 
for  the  relief  of  mankind  everywhere,  whether  in  Macon 
County,  the  State  of  Alabama,  or  in  the  Nation. 

No  greater  or  more  serious  responsibility  was  ever  placed 
upon  the  Negro  than  is  left  us  here  at  Tuskegee.  The  im 
portance  of  the  work  and  the  gravity  of  the  duty  that  has 
been  assigned  the  principal,  the  officers,  and  the  teachers  in 
forwarding  this  work  cannot  be  overestimated.  But  along 
with  the  responsibility  and  difficulties  we  have  a  rare  oppor 
tunity,  one  almost  to  be  envied — an  opportunity  to  help  in 

216 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

the  solution  of  a  great  problem,  the  human  problem  of  race, 
not  merely  changing  the  modes  of  life  and  the  ideals  of  a  race 
but  of  almost  equal  importance,  changing  the  ideas  of  other 
races  regarding  that  race.  Let  us  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that 
while  the  outlook  was  never  more  hopeful,  the  Negro  problem 
is  not  yet  solved.  True,  there  are  many  people  who  thor 
oughly  believe  in  Negro  education,  but  we  must  remember 
that  there  are  also  many  honest,  sincere  white  people  who 
are  still  doubtful  as  to  the  wisdom  of  educating  the  coloured 
man.  We  can  and  we  must  convince  that  class  of  people 
that  Negro  education  from  every  point  of  view  is  worth  while. 
While  there  is  great  encouragement  in  the  fact  that  70  per 
cent,  of  the  Negro  population  can  read  and  write,  it  is  not 
safe  to  assume  that  70  per  cent,  of  the  Negro  race  are  really 
and  truly  educated.  Our  progress  in  this  country  has  been 
wonderful,  and  we  have  every  reason  for  rejoicing;  but  ig 
norance,  shiftlessness,  disease,  inefficiency,  and  crime  are  still 
prevalent  among  our  people.  Colour  and  conduct  still  count 
in  this  question,  but  let  us  remember,  friends,  that  conduct 
counts  a  great  deal  more  than  colour. 

General  Armstrong,  Doctor  Washington,  and  Doctor  Fris- 
sell,  with  the  support  and  influence  of  such  Southern  men  as 
Mr.  Campbell,  have  shown  us  the  way  out,  have  shown  us 
how  these  perplexing  questions  may  be  met  and  solved. 
If  we  follow  the  course  mapped  out  here,  we  shall  have  the 
hearty  cooperation  and  support  of  as  distinguished,  as  wise, 
as  unselfish,  and  as  devoted  a  body  of  men  as  is  to  be  found 
anywhere  in  this  land.  I  refer  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
this  institution.  Not  only  so,  but  we  will  have  also  the  cor- 

217 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

dial  help  and  sympathy  of  the  white  and  coloured  people  of 
this  state,  from  His  Excellency,  Governor  Henderson,  and 
Superintendent  Feagin,  both  of  whom  honour  this  occasion 
by  their  presence,  down  to  the  humblest  citizen.  This  whole 
country,  too,  will  stand  by  us,  if  we  are  wise,  sincere,  and  un 
selfish.  I  repeat,  our  responsibility  is  tremendous,  and  our 
opportunity  is  great.  We  should  measure  up  to  our  respon 
sibilities  and  our  opportunities,  and  we  can  do  it.  Not  by 
arrogant  self-seeking;  not  by  bluff,  sham,  or  bombast;  not 
by  flippant  fault-finding;  not  by  shrinking  at  difficulty,  or 
shirking  duty;  not  by  the  cherishing  of  prejudice  against  white 
men  or  black  men  can  the  Tuskegee  Institute  live  and  pros 
per  and  serve. 

In  order  that  this  institution  shall  continue  to  carry  for 
ward  the  ideals  of  its  great  founder,  in  order  that  it  shall  not 
cease  to  render  large  service  to  humankind,  in  order  that  we 
shall  keep  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people  of  this 
land,  we  must,  first,  every  one  of  us — principal,  officers, 
teachers,  graduates,  and  students — use  every  opportunity 
and  strive  in  every  reasonable  way  to  develop  and  strengthen 
between  white  and  black  people,  North  and  South,  that  un 
selfish  cooperation  which  has  characterized  the  Tuskegee 
Institute  from  its  beginning.  Second,  we  must  patiently 
and  persistently  and  in  the  spirit  of  unselfish  devotion, 
follow  the  methods  of  education  which  in  this  school  have 
been  so  distinctive,  so  unique,  and  so  helpful.  Third,  we 
must  consecrate  and  reconsecrate  our  lives  to  this  work  as 
instruments  in  God's  hands  for  the  training  of  black  men 
and  women  for  service,  in  whatever  capacity,  or  in  whatever 

218 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

locality  they  may  find  a  human  need.  Fourth,  there  must 
be  no  cantankerousness  here — we  must  all  work  absolutely 
together. 

In  his  last  talk  from  this  platform,  Doctor  Washington 
spoke  on  the  value  and  importance  of  team-work.  He  urged 
that  officers,  teachers,  and  students,  in  every  department 
and  in  every  phase  of  the  work,  should  cultivate,  more  than 
ever  before,  team-work,  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  this 
vital  essential  of  the  school's  success.  If  team-work,  my 
friends,  was  necessary  in  this  school  under  the  leadership  of 
Doctor  Washington,  how  much  more  imperative  the  necessity 
is  now,  inasmuch  as  we  have  not  the  help  and  inspiration  of 
his  strong  words  and  visible  presence. 

If  we  are  to  be  true  to  this  great  and  sacred  trust;  if  we  are 
to  carry  out  the  aims  and  purposes  of  Booker  T.  Washington, 
the  founder  of  this  institution,  we  must  each  cherish  and 
maintain  the  spirit  which  has  always  permeated  the  life  and 
work  of  this  place — the  spirit  of  self-forgetfulness — the  spirit 
of  service  and  sacrifice — the  "  Tuskegee  Spirit" — the  spirit  of 
cooperation  and  of  consecration.  It  is  only  in  this  spirit  that 
the  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute  can  continue 
to  render  service  to  our  people,  to  our  state,  to  our  country. 

I  cannot  more  fittingly  or  forcibly  close  these  remarks 
than  with  the  use  of  the  following  words  from  Doctor  Wash 
ington's  last  Sunday  evening  talk: 

"We  want  to  have  team-work,"  he  said,  "not  only  in  the 
direction  to  which  I  have  referred,  but  most  of  all,  highest  of 
all,  we  want  to  have  team-work  in  our  spiritual  life,  in  our 
religious  life,  in  the  prayer  meetings,  in  the  preaching  service, 

219 


FINDING      A      WAY 

in  every  devotional  exercise.  We  can  get  it  by  each  one  for 
getting  his  own  personal  ambitions,  forgetting  selfishness, 
forgetting  all  that  stands  in  the  way  of  perfect  team-work." 

I  was  very  pleasantly  impressed  on  this  occasion 
by  the  deep  and  sympathetic  interest  of  the  alumni 
of  the  Institute,  which  was  indicated  by  the  presence 
of  groups  representing  various  classes  which  came 
from  many  sections  of  the  country.  I  recall 
among  others  a  special  party  from  Chicago  headed 
by  Mr.  Claude  A.  Barnett  of  the  class  of  1906,  which 
brought,  besides  many  alumni  from  that  city, 
a  large  number  of  distinguished  coloured  people 
from  the  Northwest.  It  was  also  gratifying  to 
have  present  on  this  occasion  a  large  party  from 
Virginia,  composed  largely  of  men  and  women 
with  whom  I  had  been  associated  for  many  years 
in  various  movements  affecting  the  life  and  inter 
ests  of  the  coloured  people  of  that  state.  I  was 
very  much  surprised  when,  in  the  midst  of  the 
exercises,  President  John  M.  Gandy  of  Petersburg, 
in  behalf  of  the  group,  presented  me  with  a  loving- 
cup  in  token  of  their  good  wishes  and  esteem. 

It  was  reassuring  to  receive  in  connection  with 
this  event  various  letters  and  telegrams  from  men 

220 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

and  women  in  the  South,  both  white  and  coloured, 
who  gave  me  assurance  of  good  will  toward  the 
work  of  Tuskegee  and  cordial  cooperation  and  sup 
port  of  my  own  efforts  in  connection  therewith. 
His  Excellency,  Governor  Charles  Henderson,  was 
especially  cordial  in  his  welcome  to  the  State  of 
Alabama  and  pledged  his  support  and  the  continued 
interest  of  the  white  and  coloured  people  of  the 
state  in  the  work  being  carried  on  at  Tuskegee 
Institute. 

We  have  followed  closely  the  policies  of  Doctor 
Washington.  There  have  of  necessity  been  some 
changes  and  some  reorganization.  This  was  to  be 
expected,  but  there  have  been  fewer  changes  than 
might  have  been  expected  under  the  circumstances. 
Doctor  Washington  was  a  man  unique  in  method 
as  well  as  personality.  I  had  supposed  that  any 
one  succeeding  him  would  find  it  necessary  to  de 
vise  plans  and  methods  better  adapted  to  his  own 
capacities  and  temperament.  The  fact  is,  I  soon 
found  that  he  had  constructed  a  working  organiza 
tion  that  was  remarkably  simple  and  equally 
effective  in  its  operations,  an  organization  that 
sometimes  seemed  to  function  as  well  in  the  ab- 

221 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

sence  of  the  principal  as  when  he  was  present.  It 
was  this,  in  fact,  that  enabled  Doctor  Washington 
and  enables  the  present  principal  to  spend  a  con 
siderable  part  of  his  time  away  from  the  Institute 
in  securing  the  funds  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
work. 

Among  the  first  to  greet  me  at  the  Institute  was 
Mr.  J.  H.  Washington,  the  brother  of  Doctor  Wash 
ington  and  for  many  years  General  Superintendent 
of  Industries,  who  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
the  physical  development  of  the  Institute  in  all  of 
its  phases.  He  joined  his  brother  a  few  years  after 
the  work  began  and  has  ever  since  given  himself 
unreservedly  to  the  interests  of  the  Institute. 
The  confidence  and  devotion  of  the  two  brothers 
was  touchingly  beautiful.  He  has  recently  been 
obliged  to  give  up  active  responsibility,  but  is 
nevertheless  just  as  much  interested  in  every  aspect 
of  the  Institute's  work.  It  is  a  pleasure  and  bene 
diction  for  teachers  and  students  to  see  him  about 
the  grounds,  and  his  advice  and  counsel  are  still 
found  very  valuable  on  many  matters  touching 
the  interests  of  the  Institute. 

During  the  interval  between  Doctor  Washing- 

222 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

ton's  death  and  the  inauguration  of  the  new  prin 
cipal  the  responsibilities  of  this  post  devolved 
upon  the  vice-principal  and  treasurer,  Mr.  Warren 
Logan.  Mr.  Logan  came  to  the  Institute  at  Mr. 
Washington's  invitation  two  years  after  Mr.  Wash 
ington  himself  came.  He,  like  Mr.  J.  H.Washington, 
was  a  graduate  of  Hampton  Institute.  Mr.  Logan 
had  been  teaching  school  in  Maryland.  He  had 
not  been  at  the  Institute  long  before  the  acute  fi 
nancial  needs  which  Mr.  Washington  continually 
faced  in  the  early  years  of  the  school  led  him  to  ask 
Mr.  Logan  if  he  had  any  money.  Mr.  Logan 
answered  that  he  had  seventy-five  dollars,  and 
seventy-five  dollars  was  a  great  deal  in  those  days 
in  the  hands  of  a  coloured  school  teacher.  It  rep 
resented,  I  think,  Mr.  Logan's  savings  for  two 
years.  Doctor  Washington  forthwith  borrowed 
it  and  put  it  into  the  work  of  the  Institute.  Mr. 
Logan  through  all  these  years  has  stood  by  the 
school  with  the  same  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and,  as 
treasurer,  has  husbanded  its  finances  in  every  pos 
sible  way.  Doctor  Washington  once  mentioned  to 
Doctor  Frissell  and  myself  that  Tuskegee  would 
not  have  been  possible  had  he  not  had  the  help 

223 


FINDING      A      WAY       OUT 

of  Mr.  Logan.  He  has  held  about  every  position 
in  the  school:  treasurer,  business  manager,  direc 
tor  of  the  Academic  Department,  and  almost  from 
the  beginning  has  acted  as  principal  in  Doctor 
Washington's  absence.  During  the  interim  when 
he  served  as  acting  principal  the  school  went  on 
with  its  accustomed  smoothness.  The  casual  ob 
server  would  scarcely  have  known  that  Doctor 
Washington  himself  was  not  living  and  present. 

Long  before  the  death  of  Doctor  Washington  I 
had  known  of  the  great  service  of  Mrs.  Washington 
to  the  Institute  as  Dean  of  Women,  which  began 
many  years  before  she  became  Mrs.  Washington. 
She  has  been  a  tremendous  force  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  school,  sharing  without  reserve  the 
many  and  increasing  burdens  which  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  school  made  necessary.  While  her 
special  work  has  been  the  direction  of  girls'  indus 
tries  at  Dorothy  Hall,  she  has  been  no  less  active 
and  helpful  in  all  of  the  other  workings  of  the 
organization.  She  has  stood  by  the  work  since 
her  husband's  death  as  she  had  done  before,  with 
a  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of 
Tuskegee  that  have  known  no  abatement. 

224 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

In  assuming  the  duties  of  principal,  I  very  natur 
ally  came  into  close  and  intimate  contact  with  Mr. 
Emmett  J.  Scott,  who  for  many  years  served  as 
private  secretary  to  Doctor  Washington  and  later 
as  secretary  of  the  institution.  I  found  him  to  be 
a  rarely  competent  and  painstaking  executive. 
No  one  at  the  Institute  knew  more  about  the 
varied  and  peculiar  activities  which  Tuskegee  fos 
tered  outside  of  the  school  proper,  or  sensed  more 
clearly  what  Tuskegee's  attitude  should  be  touch 
ing  public  questions  generally.  It  was  with  the 
help  of  Mr.  Scott  that  Doctor  Washington  was 
able  to  build  up  the  very  effective  executive  ma 
chinery  of  the  Institute  and  to  develop  his  wide 
field  of  public  activity. 

In  the  various  other  departments  of  the  In 
stitute  I  found  that  Doctor  Washington  had 
gathered  about  him  men  each  of  whom  had  a  clear 
and  firm  grasp  on  his  own  particular  branch  of  the 
work.  In  the  department  of  Mechanical  Indus 
tries  Mr.  Robert  R.  Taylor  was  carrying  forward 
his  work  with  admirable  efficiency.  Prof.  George 
W.  Carver  in  agricultural  research  and  experimental 
work  was  accomplishing  results  that  were  attract- 

225 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ing  attention  throughout  the  South  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  The  Institute  hospital,  in 
charge  of  Dr.  John  A.  Kenney,  I  found  to  be  one 
of  the  most  useful  and  efficient  departments  of  the 
work.  The  department  of  Accounting  in  charge  of 
Mr.  Charles  H.  Gibson,  and  the  Boys'  Department 
with  Major  Julius  B.  Ramsey  as  commandant, 
were,  along  with  others,  under  the  direction  of  very 
capable  men,  all  of  whom  were  most  loyal  to  Doctor 
Washington  and  cooperated  very  heartily  with  the 
incoming  principal. 

I  know  of  no  educational  institution  whose  Board 
of  Trustees  takes  a  more  active  and  personal  in 
terest  in  its  work  than  is  true  of  the  Trustees  of 
Tuskegee  Institute.  An  institution  is  truly  for 
tunate  when  men  of  the  type  of  Mr.  William 
G.  Willcox — formerly  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Education  of  New  York  City  and  representing 
large  business  interests  there — are  willing  to  give 
so  much  of  their  time  and  thought  to  the  internal 
affairs  of  a  school  like  Tuskegee.  It  was  soon 
after  my  own  coming  to  Tuskegee  that  Mr.  Willcox 
consented  to  accept  the  chairmanship  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  following  the  death  of  Mr.  Seth  Low. 

226 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

Among  those  associated  with  Mr.  Willcox  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees  are  such  men  as  Mr.  Frank  Trum- 
bull,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Ches- 
apeake  and  Ohio  as  well  as  several  other  railroads; 
Mr.  Julius  Rosenwald,  president  of  Sears,  Roebuck 
&  Company,  Chicago;  Dr.  William  Jay  Schieffelin 
of  New  York;  Mr.  Charles  E.  Mason  of  Boston; 
and  Mr.  William  M.  Scott  of  Philadelphia.  These 
gentlemen  have  been  untiring  in  their  efforts  to 
sustain  the  work  of  the  Institute  and  have  re 
sponded  to  every  call  upon  their  time  and  energy 
which  the  principal  has  made  upon  them.  Not 
only  these  men  but  the  wives  of  many  of  them 
have  been  equally  interested  and  responsive  to 
the  needs  of  Tuskegee.  We  owe  the  John  A. 
Andrew  Memorial  Hospital  to  Mrs.  Charles  E. 
Mason;  and  much  of  the  equipment  for  the  girls' 
industries,  as  well  as  for  their  dormitories,  to  the 
thoughtful  interest  of  Mrs.  William  G.  Willcox  and 
Mrs.  Julius  Rosenwald.  In  many  ways  these  ladies 
have  manifested  a  keen  and  discriminating  interest 
in  all  the  activities  for  girls  at  the  Institute  that 
has  been  most  helpful  to  their  proper  development. 
This  is  true  also  of  Mrs.  Seth  Low,  who,  during 

227 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

the  time  when  her  husband  was  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  accompanied  him  on  his  visits 
to  the  Institute  and  concerned  herself  personally 
about  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  girls. 

Of  course  it  was  not  easy  to  give  up  a  life  and 
environment  in  which  one  had  spent  more  than 
twenty-five  years  under  very  pleasant  circum 
stances.  It  meant  the  severance  of  very  close  and 
intimate  ties  and  the  giving  up  of  a  work  not  only 
within  but  also  without  Hampton  Institute  that  had 
taken  a  very  strong  hold  upon  my  sympathies 
and  to  which  I  was  giving  my  best  thought  and 
endeavour. 

Mrs.  Moton  felt  the  change  quite  as  keenly  as  I 
did  and  in  some  ways  was  more  reluctant  about 
severing  our  connection  with  the  work  of  Hampton 
Institute  than  I  was.  It  was  a  source  of  satisfac 
tion  to  both  of  us  at  Hampton  to  be  near  our 
parents,  who  are  well  advanced  in  years.  Be 
tween  my  own  mother  and  myself  there  has  always 
been  a  real  companionship  such  as  has  not  devel 
oped  between  her  and  the  other  children,  which 
was  due  in  all  probability  to  the  fact  that  for 
some  years,  both  prior  to  and  after  my  father's 

228 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

death  and  until  she  married  again,  many  of  the 
responsibilities  of  the  household,  notwithstanding 
my  youth,  I  was  obliged  to  share.  There  are  seven 
of  us — four  boys  and  three  girls.  Three  besides 
myself  attended  school  at  Hampton  and  all  are 
married  and  succeeding  in  a  way  that  is  very 
pleasing  to  my  mother.  One  of  them,  Joshua  E. 
Blanton,  is  in  educational  work  at  Penn  School 
in  South  Carolina,  where  he  holds  a  responsible 
position  in  a  unique  institution.  My  mother  even 
now  exerts  a  very  strong  influence  over  all  of  her 
children,  and  any  one  of  them  would  hesitate  to 
follow  a  course  of  which  she  had  expressed  dis 
approval. 

Following  the  inauguration  Mrs.  Moton  and  I 
took  up  life  at  Tuskegee  in  very  much  the  same  way 
that  we  had  lived  at  Hampton.  We  established 
our  home  amid  very  pleasant  surroundings  where 
Mrs.  Moton  and  our  four  children — two  girls  and 
two  boys — have  grown  to  be  just  as  happy  and 
contented  as  they  were  at  Hampton.  While  the 
two  institutions  are  very  much  alike,  there  are 
some  aspects  in  which  they  are  quite  unlike.  At 
Tuskegee  we  have  the  unique  situation  of  a  large 

229 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

institution — really  a  community — of  about  three 
thousand  coloured  people  conducting  and  directing 
all  of  the  activities  incident  to  their  daily  life. 
While  there  have  always  been  the  pleasantest  rela 
tions  with  the  white  people  of  the  town  of  Tuskegee 
and  the  county  as  well,  the  school  community 
is  as  separate  and  distinct  in  its  daily  activities  as 
if  they  were  many  miles  apart.  Visitors  to  the 
Institute,  white  as  well  as  coloured,  generally  find 
it  a  matter  of  interest  and  pride  to  observe  here 
a  well-ordered  institution  entirely  and  successfully 
directed  by  Negroes. 

It  was  just  after  the  close  of  this  first  year's 
work  that  Tuskegee  sustained  one  of  its  greatest 
losses  in  the  death  of  Doctor  Frissell,  the  one  man, 
excepting  Doctor  Washington  himself,  who  in  the 
last  thirty  years  has  been  most  active  and  helpful 
in  Negro  education.  There  was  scarcely  a  man  in 
the  country  more  genuinely  loved  and  respected  by 
people  of  both  sections  and  races  than  Doctor 
Frissell.  For  thirty-seven  years  he  was  a  worker 
at  Hampton,  first  as  chaplain  and  vice- 
principal,  and  after  General  Armstrong's  death, 
in  1893,  as  principal.  Under  his  quiet,  unassuming 

230 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

leadership,  Hampton  Institute  grew,  not  only 
physically,  but  in  influence  and  power  among 
blacks  and  whites  throughout  the  land.  He  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Doctor  Washington  in 
all  movements  touching  the  best  interests  of  the 
South.  There  was  never  between  the  two  any 
semblance  of  misunderstanding  or  rivalry.  Doctor 
Washington  was  always  glad,  by  word  or  deed,  to 
serve  Hampton;  and  Doctor  Frissell  gladly  used 
every  opportunity  to  do  the  same  for  Tuskegee.  But 
it  is  better  to  let  these  two  friends,  one  white,  one 
black,  each  express  in  his  own  words  his  affection 
ate  regard  for  the  other: 

His  was  a  wonderful  life  of  faith.  I  believe  that  no  man 
without  a  belief  in  an  overruling  Providence  could  ever  have 
stood  what  Booker  T.  Washington  stood;  could  ever  have 
endured  what  he  endured.  He  believed  that  down  under 
neath  what  sometimes  seemed  like  prejudice  there  was  a 
heart  of  love,  and  he  found  that  heart. 

— H.  B.  FRISSELL. 

Doctor  Frissell  is  one  of  the  rarest  human  souls  that  any  one 
can  know.  He  gives  himself — body,  mind,  and  soul — to  the 
service  of  others.  I  have  never  met  a  man  of  such  rare 
unselfishness  and  such  rare  modesty. 

— B.  T.  WASHINGTON. 

231 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Almost  the  last  words  of  Doctor  Washington  to 
me  in  a  New  York  hospital,  three  days  before  his 
death,  were  about  Doctor  FrisselPs  health,  when  he 
expressed  the  hope  that  Doctor  Frissell  might  be 
spared  for  many  years  to  our  race  and  country. 
It  is  hard  for  one  not  intimately  associated  with 
the  two  men  to  appreciate  the  real  love  and  genuine 
affection  existing  between  them.  They  both 
worked  and  sacrificed  with  one  unselfish  purpose, 
and  for  one  absorbing  and  inspiring  cause,  the 
bringing  to  pass  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

Mr.  Frank  Trumbull,  in  an  address  at  Tuskegee 
Institute,  referred  to  Mr.  Ogden,  Mr.  Low,  Doctor 
Washington,  and  Doctor  Frissell  as  "a  very  remark 
able  quartette."  It  was  truly  a  remarkable  group ; 
courageous,  unselfish  soldiers  they  were;  simply, 
patiently,  wisely,  unselfishly  fighting  for  broader 
sympathy  and  more  thorough  understanding  be 
tween  men  of  all  races. 

After  careful  and  painstaking  search  Dr.  James 
E.  Gregg,  of  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  was  called 
to  be  the  principal  of  Hampton  Institute ;  and  the 
Trustees  have  been  most  fortunate  in  finding  a  man 
who  with  great  vigour  and  wisdom  has  assumed  the 

232 


AT      TUSKEGEE 

responsibility  of  carrying  forward  that  work. 
Doctor  Gregg  has  manifested  at  Hampton  the 
spirit  so  characteristic  of  his  predecessors,  which 
is  so  much  needed  in  the  social  and  economic  read 
justments  of  the  nation  just  now. 

Tuskegee  and  Hampton  have  always  worked 
in  closest  sympathy.  They  cannot  do  otherwise  in 
the  future.  The  placing  of  such  a  man  as  Doctor 
Gregg  at  the  head  of  Hampton  and  the  election  of 
the  principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute  as  a  trustee  of 
Hampton  will  insure  equally  as  great  and  helpful 
cooperation  between  the  two  schools  as  in  the  past, 
and  will  also,  I  hope,  help  in  bringing  about  greater 
sympathy  and  cooperation  in  all  efforts  for  Negro 
education. 


233 


CHAPTER  XI 

WAR   ACTIVITIES 

THE  important  position  which  Tuskegee  had  al 
ready  acquired  through  its  Founder  in  matters 
affecting  the  interests  of  coloured  people  led  many 
persons,  officials  and  others,  to  turn  naturally  in 
this  direction  for  counsel  concerning  the  attitude 
the  Negro  would  probably  assume  regarding  the 
war  and  the  best  methods  to  be  employed  in  secur 
ing  his  largest  and  best  service  to  the  nation  in 
the  conflict. 

The  question  was  early  raised  as  to  how  he 
would  be  affected  by  German  propaganda  and 
whether  or  not  he  would  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the 
schemes  of  secret  enemies  of  the  Government,  and 
allow  himself  to  become  an  accomplice  of  spies, 
plotters,  and  even  bomb-throwers.  I  promptly 
assured  all  questioners  that  the  Negro's  loyalty 
could  be  depended  upon  absolutely  at  this  time  as 
in  the  past.  My  questioners  in  many  instances 

234 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

pointed  out  the  fact  that  the  Negro  had  suffered 
a  great  many  injustices  in  this  country  and  had 
long  been  deprived  of  many  of  the  rights  and  privi 
leges  enjoyed  by  other  American  citizens,  in  view  of 
which  they  were  very  apprehensive  lest  he  should 
take  advantage  of  this  situation  and  join  the 
enemies  of  the  country  in  order  to  avenge  his 
wrongs  and  secure  the  rights  and  opportunities  due 
him  as  a  man  and  an  American.  I  reminded  these 
anxious  people  that  the  Negro  in  America  had 
always  been  loyal  to  his  country,  even  when  its 
acts  were  sometimes  apparently  to  his  disadvant 
age,  and  that  in  this  conflict  he  saw  and  appreci 
ated  the  issues  at  stake  as  clearly  as  any  other 
elements  in  our  population. 

It  has  sometimes  surprised  and  even  amused 
me  to  find  white  people  worrying  about  the  Negro's 
Americanism,  assuming,  as  they  probably  do,  that 
because  he  is  black  he  must  have  some  sub 
conscious  and  subtle  attachment  for  some  other 
country.  They  forget  that  the  Negro  knows  no 
more  about  Africa  or  any  other  country  than  these 
very  same  white  people  know  about  England  or 
some  other  country  from  which  their  ancestors 

235 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

came  to  America.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Negroes 
have  been  in  America  practically  as  long  as  white 
people.  The  Jamestown  colonists  arrived  only  thir 
teen  years  ahead  of  them  and  the  Plymouth  colony 
was  founded  about  a  year  after  the  Negro  arrived. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  Negro  should 
be  as  intense  in  his  Americanism  as  any  other  part 
of  our  population;  and  in  truth  the  nation  has 
much  less  to  fear  from  the  approximately  twelve 
millions  of  her  Negro  population  than  from  many 
other  groups  whose  advantages  and  opportunities 
would  appear  to  be  very  much  greater,  because  of  a 
more  just  attitude  which  our  Government  has 
manifested  toward  them.  It  was  in  this  connection 
that  I  wrote  President  Wilson  as  follows: 

I  have  not  acknowledged  your  very  kind  letter  of  some 
weeks  ago.  A  number  of  people  of  prominence  have  ap 
proached  me  with  reference  to  the  attitude  the  Negroes  would 
assume  in  case  the  country  should  go  to  war.  I  understand 
also  that  certain  high  officials  of  the  Government  have 
raised  similar  questions. 

Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  which  my  race  faces  in 
many  parts  of  this  country,  some  of  which  I  called  to  your 
attention  in  my  previous  letter,  I  am  writing  to  assure  you 
that  you  and  the  nation  can  count  absolutely  on  the  loyalty 

236 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

of  the  mass  of  Negroes  of  our  country;  and  its  people,  North 
and  South,  as  in  previous  wars,  will  find  the  Negro  people 
rallying  almost  to  a  man  to  our  flag. 

Whatever  influence  I  may  have  personally,  or  whatever 
service  I  can  render  in  or  outside  of  the  Tuskegee  Institute, 
I  shall  be  glad  to  put  at  your  disposal  for  the  service  of  our 
country. 

The  President  replied: 

MY  DEAR  PRINCIPAL  MOTON  : 

Accept  my  warm  thanks  for  your  kind  letter  of  the  fif 
teenth  of  March  and  allow  me  to  tell  you  how  deeply  I 
appreciate  your  generous  assurances. 

Tuskegee  of  necessity  had  to  be  very  active 
in  every  line  of  war  work.  I  felt  that  there  was 
no  better  way  to  show  the  Tuskegee  spirit  or  to  per 
petuate  the  ideals  of  Doctor  Washington  than  to 
turn  the  full  force  of  Tuskegee's  resources  and 
influence  to  the  service  of  our  country.  The 
calls  came  in  increasing  volume,  but  no  matter 
what  the  demands  were,  whether  to  give  up  some 
worker,  to  set  aside  our  regular  routine,  to  conduct 
some  sort  of  campaign,  to  journey  a  long  distance 
to  address  an  audience  on  an  urgent  war  need,  or 
to  leave  the  school  on  short  notice  to  meet  with 

337 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

some  committee — we  gave  freely  and  gladly  of  our 
time  and  efforts. 

When  it  became  apparent  that  in  the  applica 
tion  of  the  draft  the  Negro  would  be  expected  to 
contribute  his  full  quota  of  men  to  the  National 
Army,  the  question  arose  as  to  the  desirability 
and  advisability  of  establishing  a  camp  for  the 
training  of  Negro  officers  to  command  the  Negro 
soldiers,  similar  to  the  one  that  had  been  previously 
established  at  Plattsburg,  New  York,  to  which 
coloured  men  were  not  being  admitted.  The 
weight  of  Tuskegee's  influence  was  thrown  into 
this  proposal  which  was  being  strongly  urged  from 
many  quarters,  with  the  result  that  such  a  camp 
was  authorized  by  the  War  Department  and  was 
established  at  Fort  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  with  Col. 
C.  C.  Ballou  in  command.  There  was  a  fear, 
however,  on  the  part  of  coloured  people  that  Negro 
soldiers  would  be  called  upon  to  serve  only  in 
what  was  designated  as  "service"  and  "pioneer" 
regiments — commonly  known  as  labour  units— 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  comparatively 
few  Negroes  who  were  in  the  National  Guard  regi 
ments  of  several  Northern  states,  and  the  four 

238 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

regiments  of  Negro  soldiers  in  the  Regular  Army. 
Accordingly,  it  was  urged  upon  the  War  Depart 
ment  that  in  justice  to  the  Negro  it  was  desirable  to 
have  at  least  one  complete  Negro  division  for  combat 
service,  officered  throughout  by  coloured  men,  the 
hope  being  that  Col.  Charles  Young  would  command 
it.  He  is  at  present  the  only  Negro  graduate  of 
West  Point  in  the  service  of  the  Regular  Army  and 
his  record  for  efficiency  is  among  the  best  in  his 
grade. 

In  this  connection  I  was  requested  to  come  to 
Washington  for  an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of 
War.  Arriving  there  I  was  joined  by  Mr.  George 
Foster  Peabody  and  together  we  urged  upon  the 
Secretary  of  War  the  wholesome  effect  which  such 
a  measure  would  have  in  strengthening  the  con 
fidence  of  the  coloured  people  throughout  the  coun 
try  in  the  purpose  of  the  Government  to  be  impartial 
in  its  attitude  toward  Negro  soldiers.  The  Sec 
retary  was  interviewed  also  by  Dr.  George  W. 
Cabaniss,  and  Mr.  F.  E.  de  Frantz,  and  many 
other  coloured  and  white  men  of  influence.  Shortly 
thereafter  the  order  was  issued  for  the  organ 
ization  of  the  92nd  Division  of  the  National 

239 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Army  to  be  composed  entirely  of  Negro  soldiers 
with  Negro  officers  in  the  line. 

It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  coloured  people 
generally,  however,  that  Colonel  Young  was  not 
given  the  command  of  this  division,  but  the  War 
Department,  on  the  advice  of  the  Surgeon  Gener 
al's  office,  took  the  position  that  Colonel  Young 
was  physically  disqualified  for  the  service.  Con 
sequently,  the  command  of  this  division  was  given 
to  General  Ballou  who  had  been  strongly  in  favour 
of  such  a  unit. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  visit  the  various  units  of 
Negro  soldiers  at  many  of  the  training  camps  during 
the  progress  of  the  war.  I  recall  with  some  satisfac 
tion  the  two  days  which  I  spent  with  the  1,200  men  of 
the  Officers'  Training  Camp  at  Fort  Des  Moines, 
whoforthemostpartwere  students  from  educational 
institutions  and  professional  men,  along  with  about 
two  hundred  men  who  had  been  selected  from  the 
four  Negro  regiments  of  the  Regular  Army.  Tuske- 
gee,  like  other  institutions,  furnished  its  full  quota 
of  the  men  who  volunteered  for  this  training 
camp.  Altogether  more  than  forty  of  our  men, 
teachers,  graduates,  and  students,  received  com- 

240 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

missions  at  the  end  of  the  course  and  most  of 
them  saw  service  in  France.  I  never  saw  a  finer 
body  of  men,  and  was  particularly  interested  to 
learn  from  General  Ballou  that  his  surgeon  had 
reported  that  of  the  1,200  men  in  the  group  only 
five  had  been  found  on  examination  to  show  any 
signs  of  social  diseases.  I  doubt  if  any  other  camp 
anywhere  could  show  a  better  record  in  this  re 
spect  than  this  camp  of  black  men. 

Growing  out  of  these  and  similar  experiences  it 
occurred  to  some  of  us  that,  in  view  of  the  frequent 
occasions  for  conference  with  governmental  officials 
concerning  matters  pertaining  to  coloured  people 
and  their  part  in  the  successful  prosecution  of  the 
war,  it  was  highly  important  to  have  in  Washing 
ton,  and  preferably  in  the  War  Department,  a  wise 
and  capable  coloured  man  who  could  advise  the 
Secretary  in  such  matters  as  concerned  the  relation 
of  Negroes  to  the  various  measures  set  in  operation 
for  the  winning  of  the  war.  It  was  felt  that  in 
this  way  the  Government  would  secure  the  fullest 
cooperation  of  the  coloured  people  with  the  least 
amount  of  misunderstanding  and  friction. 

In  a  conference  to  which  I  had  been  invited  by 

241 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Secretary  Baker,  I  made  this  proposal  to  him. 
The  Secretary  had  impressed  me  as  always  desirous 
of  being  absolutely  fair  in  all  his  decisions 
touching  the  interests  of  coloured  people,  and 
on  this  occasion  it  was  evident  that  he  was 
anxious  to  do  anything  that  would  effectively 
aid  in  winning  the  war.  After  he  had  gone 
over  the  matter  quite  thoroughly  with  me,  he 
arranged  that  I  should  have  an  interview  with 
President  Wilson.  In  this  interview  the  President 
expressed  his  unqualified  approval  of  the  sugges 
tion,  and  asked  who,  in  my  judgment,  might  ac 
ceptably  fill  such  a  place,  at  the  same  time  requesting 
me  to  take  up  the  matter  in  detail  with  the  Secre 
tary  of  War. 

On  taking  up  the  matter  with  Secretary  Baker, 
I  proposed  Mr.  Emmett  J.  Scott  as  the  man 
in  my  opinion  who,  by  his  long  years  of  contact 
and  experience  with  Doctor  Washington  in  the 
handling  of  many  delicate  matters  of  public  in 
terest,  was  best  fitted  to  advise  regarding  the  many 
and  varied  matters  which  were  constantly  arising. 

Accordingly,  Mr.  Scott  took  up  the  duties  of 
Special  Assistant  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  with 

242 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

offices  at  Washington,  the  Trustees  of  the  Institute 
heartily  concurring  in  the  arrangement.  There 
after  he  rendered  most  valuable  service  to  the 
Government  throughout  the  war,  and  while  his 
absence  from  the  Institute  hampered  considerably 
the  working  of  his  office  in  the  school,  we  were 
nevertheless  glad  to  make  a  sacrifice  which  con 
tributed  so  much  to  the  effective  service  of  the 
coloured  people  in  the  war.  The  school  would  have 
suffered  very  much  more,  however,  but  for  the 
very  capable  way  in  which  the  work  of  the  secre 
tary's  office  was  carried  forward  by  Mr.  Albon  L. 
Holsey,  who,  as  secretary  to  the  principal,  rendered 
v^ry  effective  service,  not  only  in  the  Institute,  but 
in  avenues  beyond  the  Institute  in  connection  with 
various  lines  of  war  activity. 

While  the  matter  of  a  representative  of  the 
coloured  people  was  under  consideration,  Govern 
ment  officials  were  in  a  quandary  over  two  very 
important  questions;  viz.,  whether  Negro  draftees 
should  be  trained  in  the  South,  and  whether  white 
and  coloured  soldiers  should  be  quartered  in  the 
same  cantonments.  It  so  happened  that  Dr.  P.  P. 
Claxton,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  had 

243 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

called  a  conference  of  coloured  and  white  men  inter 
ested  in  Negro  education  to  meet  in  Washington 
and  consider  various  aspects  of  Negro  educational 
institutions  as  brought  out  by  the  report  of  the 
Phelps-Stokes  Fund  on  Negro  Schools,  prepared 
by  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse  Jones  and  which  at  that  time 
had  been  but  recently  published  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education. 

It  occurred  to  some  of  us  that  it  would  be  wise  for 
Secretary  Baker  to  take  advantage  of  this  gathering 
to  get  the  opinion  and  judgment  of  certain  of  these 
gentlemen  as  to  the  advisable  course  to  pursue 
with  respect  to  the  question  of  the  disposition  of 
coloured  draftees  in  the  cantonments.  Accord 
ingly,  he  asked  a  group  of  these  gentlemen  to 
confer  with  him  regarding  the  entire  situation. 
Among  those  present  were:  Bishop  George  W. 
Clinton,  Mr.  Oswald  Garrison  Villard,  Dr.  James  H. 
Dillard,  President  John  Hope,  Major  Allen  Wash 
ington,  Commissioner  T.  H.  Harris  of  Louisiana, 
Mr.  George  Foster  Peabody,  and  Dr.  J.  E.  Moorland. 
It  was  a  very  illuminating  conference.  The  Sec 
retary  asked  for  a  frank  expression  from  almost 
every  individual  present,  and  after  some  discussion 

244 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

the  sentiment  of  the  body  was  happily  expressed  by 
Mr.  Harris,  of  Louisiana,  who  told  the  Secretary  of 
War  that  he  thought  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to 
treat  the  Negro  soldier  just  as  he  would  treat  any  other 
soldier  in  the  United  States  Army.  Put  him  any 
where,  he  said,  and  exact  of  him  the  same  service, 
and  mete  out  to  him  the  same  penalties  for  misbe 
haviour  that  would  be  given  to  any  other  soldiers. 
This,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  way  to  get  the  best  re 
sults  from  black  and  white  soldiers  alike  and  to  keep 
the  morale  of  the  country  at  the  highest  point  of 
efficiency.  While  the  Secretary  did  not  commit 
himself,  subsequent  events  showed  clearly  that  this 
policy  was  adopted  by  the  War  Department  and 
with  very  satisfactory  results. 

As  the  War  progressed,  the  problems  of  labour 
throughout  the  country  grew  more  acute.  Here,  too, 
it  seemed  that  the  interests  of  Negroes  as  well  as  of 
the  entire  country  could  be  best  served  by  having  in 
the  Department  of  Labour  an  assistant  to  the  Secre 
tary  who  could  serve  the  department  in  very  much 
the  same  way  that  Mr.  Scott  was  serving  the  War 
Department.  The  National  League  on  Urban 
Conditions  Among  Negroes,  with  which  I  was  con- 

245 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

nected  as  an  officer,  took  up  the  matter,  with  the 
result  that  Dr.  George  E.  Haynes  of  Fisk  Univer 
sity  was  asked  to  take  up  the  work  with  the  des 
ignation  of  Director  of  Negro  Economics.  This 
service  of  the  Urban  League  was  only  one  of 
the  many  increasingly  helpful  measures  set  in 
operation  by  this  organization  in  the  interests  of 
Negro  advancement.  Doctor  Haynes  himself  ren 
dered  very  valuable  service  to  the  Department,  as 
was  to  be  expected;  and  it  was  the  purpose  of 
Secretary  Wilson  to  continue  him  in  the  Depart 
ment  after  the  war  was  over,  but  this  was  not 
possible  because  of  the  failure  of  Congress  to 
renew  the  appropriation  for  this  branch  of  the 
service. 

At  Tuskegee  Institute  the  demands  of  the  war 
made  serious  inroads  upon  our  staff  of  workers, 
especially  in  lines  of  activity  calling  for  efficient 
workers  in  other  than  military  service.  In  all  such 
cases,  we  were  willing,  in  spite  of  inconvenience, 
to  release  members  of  our  own  force  for  such  work 
whenever  it  was  apparent  that  they  could  be  of 
larger  service  in  connection  with  war  movements 
outside  the  Institute. 

246 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

In  the  production  and  conservation  of  food  I  felt 
that  Tuskegee  should  use  every  possible  means  to 
stimulate  the  coloured  people,  especially  in  the 
South,  to  their  utmost  in  helping  the  Government, 
not  only  by  intensive  and  extensive  methods  of 
farming,  but  also  by  putting  in  a  full  week's  work 
instead  of  taking  the  usual  Saturday  holiday  so 
common  in  the  rural  districts  of  the  South.  We 
were  glad,  therefore,  to  release  Mr.  E.  T.  Attwell, 
our  business  agent,  for  service  with  the  U.  S.  Food 
Administration  to  direct  this  campaign  among 
coloured  people  in  the  Southern  states. 

In  the  same  way  the  Institute  later  released  Mr. 
Joseph  L.  Whiting,  head  of  the  Division  of  Educa 
tion,  for  educational  work  overseas  with  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.;  Miss  M.  E.  Saurez,  librarian,  for  service 
with  the  same  organization  in  France;  the  Rev. 
G.  Lake  Imes,  dean  of  the  Bible  Training  School, 
for  service  with  the  General  War  Time  Commission 
of  the  Churches;  and  Major  J.  B.  Ramsey,  com 
mandant,  for  War  Camp  Community  Service  in 
Washington. 

The  very  excellent  service  rendered  by  Mr.  Scott, 
Doctor  Haynes,  Mr.  Attwell,  and  others  appointed 

247 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

by  the  Government,  including  Dr.  C.  V.  Roman  in 
the  Surgeon  General's  Department,  strongly  sug 
gests  how  short-sighted  has  been  the  policy  of  the 
Government  hitherto  in  not  making  use  of  coloured 
men  as  a  part  of  governmental  machinery,  especially 
in  such  matters  as  have  to  do  with  coloured  people. 
It  is  also  true,  in  my  opinion,  that  local  government 
has  lost  much  in  efficiency  by  failing  to  make  use 
of  the  service  of  strong,  intelligent  coloured  men  in 
the  local  community  who  could  wisely  and  help 
fully  assist  in  the  affairs  of  government  among 
their  own  people.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that 
crime  among  Negroes  would  be  reduced  at  least 
50  per  cent,  by  the  use  of  Negroes  as  policemen 
and  deputies  where  Negroes  reside  in  any  consider 
able  numbers. 

x/  The  Negro  press  was  also  found  by  the  Govern 
ment  to  be  a  very  helpful  factor  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  It  stood  almost  solidly  back  of  such 
men  as  were  appointed  by  the  Government  in  all 
of  their  efforts  for  the  country's  good.  And  what 
ever  happened  they  were  most  loyal  to  the  Govern 
ment,  even  when,  as  was  sometimes  true,  they  might 
have  criticized  with  justification  many  of  the 

248 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

things  which  took  place.  The  attitude  of  these 
publications,  numbering  some  three  hundred  or 
more  newspapers  and  magazines,  was  a  very  im 
portant  factor  in  determining  the  attitude  of 
Negroes  on  many  questions  growing  out  of  the  war; 
and  their  influence  upon  public  sentiment  among 
their  own  people  is  of  growing  importance.  It  is 
very  apparent  that  white  people  in  the  country  are 
taking  this  fact  more  largely  into  account  in  busi 
ness  affairs  as  well  as  in  matters  of  general  commu 
nity  welfare. 

Very  early  in  the  war  the  Government  selected 
Tuskegee  Institute  as  one  of  the  institutions  to 
give  training  along  technical  lines  to  certain 
groups  of  drafted  men  who,  in  contingents  of 
308  men  each,  were  to  be  sent  here  for  two 
months'  training.  The  first  contingent  arrived  on 
May  15,  1918,  and  the  training  of  these  men  con 
tinued  until  October  i,  when  the  last  contingent 
was  absorbed  into  the  Student  Army  Training 
Corps.  In  all  we  trained  and  issued  certificates 
under  Government  direction  to  1,229  of  these  men. 
Most  of  them  were  sent  overseas  where  they 
were  able  to  apply  the  technical  knowledge  received 

249 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

at  Tuskegee  Institute.  We  received  many  letters 
from  these  men  after  they  went  overseas,  telling  how 
the  training  had  helped  them. 

Along  with  these  direct  contributions  of  men  and 
equipment  went  the  enthusiastic  cooperation  of 
the  entire  Institute  community  in  the  work  of  the 
Red  Cross  and  the  various  Liberty  Loan  and  Thrift 
Stamp  drives,  as  well  as  loyal  adherence  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Food  Administration. 

On  the  2nd  of  December,  1918,  at  the  request 
of  President  Wilson  and  Secretary  of  War  Newton 
D.  Baker,  I  went  to  France  to  look  into  condi 
tions  affecting  Negro  soldiers,  many  of  whom  were 
undergoing  hardships  of  one  kind  and  another. 
Secretary  Baker  said  that  he  and  President  Wilson 
felt  that  my  going  to  France  would  be  encouraging 
to  the  men,  and  that  the  presence  and  words  of  a 
member  of  their  own  race  would  be  particularly 
helpful,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  were  serving  the  nation,  at  the  same 
time  inviting  me  to  make  any  suggestions  that 
might  in  my  judgment  help  the  situation.  In 
spite  of  pressing  matters  in  connection  with  the 
Institute,  I  felt  that  it  was  the  school's  duty  to  do 

250 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

anything  possible  to  help  our  Negro  soldiers,  and 
decided  to  make  the  trip. 

While  in  France,  I  visited  nearly  every  point 
where  Negro  soldiers  were  stationed.  At  most  of 
them  I  spoke  to  the  men,  and  at  each  place  I  was 
most  cordially  welcomed  by  the  officers  and  men. 
I  also  had  the  privilege  of  conferring  with  Col. 
E.  M.  House;  Bishop  Brent,  senior  chaplain  of 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces ;  General  Persh- 
ing,  and  many  other  high  officials  of  the  American 
and  French  governments,  all  of  whom  I  consulted 
with  reference  to  the  record  which  had  been  made 
by  Negro  troops,  and  received  only  words  of  very 
highest  praise  and  commendation  on  their  character 
and  conduct  in  all  branches  of  the  service. 

During  the  late  summer  and  early  fall  of  1918 
there  were  a  great  many  rumours,  in  and  outside  of 
official  circles  in  this  country,  to  the  effect  that, 
morally,  the  Negro  soldier  in  France  had  failed  and 
that  the  statement  sometimes  made  that  "the 
Negro  is  controlled  by  brutal  instincts"  was 
justified.  The  report  was  current  in  France  that 
the  "unmentionable  crime"  was  very  common; 
and  according  to  the  rumours,  Negro  officers,  as 

251 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

well  as  privates,  in  all  branches  and  grades  of  the 
service,  were  guilty  of  this  crime. 

A  letter  I  saw  that  had  been  written  by  a 
lady  overseas  to  another  lady  in  the  United  States 
stated  that  the  writer  had  been  told  by  the  colonel 
of  a  certain  unit,  whose  guest  she  was,  that  he 
would  not  feel  it  safe  for  her  to  walk,  even  with  him, 
through  his  camp  of  Negro  soldiers.  Another 
letter  from  a  high  official  in  a  very  important  posi 
tion  with  the  Negro  troops  overseas,  written  un 
officially  to  a  prominent  official  on  this  side,  stated 
that  in  the  Q2nd  Division  alone  there  had  recently 
been  at  least  thirty  cases  of  the  "unmentionable 
crime. " 

Another  rumour,  equally  prevalent  and  damag 
ing,  Was  to  the  effect  that  the  fighting  units  which 
were  commanded  by  Negro  officers  had  been  a 
failure.  In  other  words,  "the  whispering  gallery," 
which  was  very  active  in  France  on  most  phases 
of  life  overseas,  said  that  the  92nd  Division,  in 
which  the  Negroes  of  America  took  special  pride, 
had  failed  utterly;  that,  wherever  they  had  been 
engaged,  the  Negro  officers  had  gone  to  pieces; 
that  in  some  cases  the  men  had  to  pull  themselves 

252 


WAR      ACTI  V  ITI  E  S 

together  after  their  officers  had  shown  "the  white 
feather";  and  other  statements  of  similar  import. 

I  went  to  France  with  authority  to  go  anywhere 
and  get  any  information  from  any  source,  so  far 
as  the  American  Expeditionary  Force  was  con 
cerned.  It  so  happened  that  I  went  on  the  steamer 
assigned  to  the  newspaper  correspondents,  a 
steamer  which  was  one  of  the  convoy  ships  for  the 
President's  party,  on  which  Dr.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois, 
editor  of  the  Crisis,  was  also  a  passenger.  Mr. 
Lester  A.  Walton,  of  the  New  York  Age;  Mr.  Nathan 
Hunt,  of  Tuskegee,  together  with  Doctor  DuBois  and 
myself,  occupied  the  same  very  comfortable  state 
room.  We  had  many  frank  and  pleasant  talks, 
both  on  the  ship  and  in  Paris,  where  we  occupied 
opposite  rooms  in  the  same  hotel.  The  subject 
that  we  discussed  most  often  was,  of  course,  some 
phase  of  the  Negro  question,  always  with  a  view 
to  helping  the  situation. 

I  was  accompanied  on  the  trips  out  from  Paris, 
as  well  as  at  many  interviews  in  Paris,  by  two 
coloured  and  two  white  men — one  white  newspaper 
man,  Mr.  Clyde  R.  Miller,  of  the  Cleveland  Plain- 
dealer,  and  Mr.  Lester  A.  Walton,  of  the  New  York 

253 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Age.  I  also  asked  to  go  with  me,  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse 
Jones,  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education 
and  the  Phelps-Stokes  Foundation,  and  Mr.  Nathan 
Hunt,  of  Tuskegee  Institute. 

I  realized  that  the  mission  was  a  delicate  one,  and 
that  questions  which  I  might  ask  and  the  things 
which  I  would  say  might  probably,  be  misunder 
stood  or  misinterpreted.  My  purpose,  however, 
was  to  get  at  the  facts  and  to  stop  untruthful 
rumours.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  facts,  I  made 
extended  inquiries  of  all  those  with  whom  I  came  in 
contact.  I  asked  many  questions  with  relation 
to  the  conduct  and  character  of  the  coloured  sol 
diers  as  compared  with  other  soldiers. 

When  I  reached  General  Headquarters  of  the 
American  Expeditionary  Force  I  found  that,  a  few 
days  before  my  arrival,  a  young  white  soldier  had 
been  sentenced  to  be  hanged  for  the  "unmention 
able  crime,"  but  because  of  his  previous  good  record 
in  every  other  way  the  sentence  was  finally  com 
muted  to  life  imprisonment.  The  opinion  at 
General  Headquarters  was  that  the  crime  to  which 
I  have  referred  was  no  more  prevalent  among  col 
oured  than  among  white,  or  any  other  soldiers. 

254 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

From  Chaumont  we  went  immediately  to  Mar- 
bache,  the  Headquarters  of  the  92nd  Division. 
I  asked  the  general  then  in  command  of  this  divi 
sion  about  the  prevalence  of  the  crime  in  ques 
tion.  He  said  that  it  was  very  prevalent,  and  that 
there  had  been  a  great  many  cases  over  which  he  was 
very  much  disturbed.  This  statement  was  cor 
roborated  by  conversation  with  two  of  his  white  staff 
officers,  who  were  present.  I  courteously  asked 
if  he  would  mind  having  one  of  his  aides  get  the 
records.  I  said  that  I  thought  general  statements 
were  often  very  damaging,  and  that,  inasmuch  as 
the  reputation  of  a  race  was  at  stake,  I  was  very 
anxious  to  get  the  facts  in  order  to  make  an  ac 
curate  report,  and,  if  possible,  to  stop  the  damag 
ing  rumours  which  were  becoming  more  and  more 
prevalent  in  America  and  were  already  prevalent 
in  France,  especially  among  Americans,  including 
military  circles,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As 
sociation,  the  Red  Cross,  and  other  organizations. 

When  the  records  were  brought  in  and  examined, 
seven  cases  where  this  crime  had  been  charged  were 
found  in  the  entire  division  of  more  than  twelve 
thousand.  Of  these  charged,  only  two  had  been 

255 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

found  guilty  and  convicted,  and  one  of  the  two  con 
victions  had  been  "turned  down'  at  General  Head 
quarters. 

In  other  fighting  units,  as  well  as  the  units  of  the 
Service  of  Supply  at  Bordeaux,  Saint  Nazaire,  and 
Brest,  and  other  places,  I  made  the  same  investiga 
tions.  I  interviewed  American  and  French  com 
manding  officers;  I  talked,  as  well,  with  scores  of 
American  and  French  officials  of  lower  rank. 
When  the  records  were  taken,  as  with  the  Q2nd 
Division,  the  number  of  cases  charged  was  very 
few  and  the  number  of  convictions  fewer  still.  I 
likewise  took  much  time  with  certain  members  of 
the  Peace  Conference,  and  with  Americans  engaged 
in  various  branches  of  war  activity,  in  an  effort  to 
disprove  and  set  at  rest  this  awful  slander  upon  the 
Negro  race.  I  spared  no  pains  or  effort  to  do  this, 
and  it  would  appear,  from  subsequent  investiga 
tions  on  this  side  of  the  water  and  from  reports 
which  have  come  to  me  from  overseas,  that  the 
momentum  of  these  damaging  rumours  perceptibly 
lessened. 

There  was  apparently  no  doubt  in  anybody's 
mind  in  France,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  find  out 

256 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

among  the  French  or  the  Americans,  as  to  the  excel 
lent  qualities  of  the  American  Negro  as  a  soldier, 
when  led  by  white  officers.  There  was  also  little 
question  about  the  fighting  record  of  four  Negro , 
regiments — the  369th,  37oth,  371  st,  and  372nd — 
which  had  been  brigaded  with  French  divisions ;  but 
when  it  came  to  the  92nd  Division,  there  was  a 
subtle  and  persistent  rumour  in  Paris  and  in  other 
places  in  France,  apparently  substantiating  the 
rumour  which  was  prevalent  in  America — only  in 
France  it  was  much  more  generally  accepted  as  true ; 
namely,  that  Negro  officers  "had  been  practically 
a  failure,"  and  that  it  was  a  mistake  ever  to  have 
attempted  to  form  a  division  with  Negroes  as 
officers. 

I  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  and  care,  as  did  also 
the  gentlemen  with  me,  to  run  down  every  rumour. 
We  spent  much  time  in  and  out  of  Paris  ferreting 
out  every  statement  that  came  from  the  "  whisper 
ing  gallery."  We  finally  found  that,  so  far  as  the 
92nd  Division  was  concerned,  only  a  very  small 
detachment  of  a  single  battalion  of  one  regiment 
had  failed. 

Later,    in    talking    with    General    Pershing   in 

257 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

France,  regarding  this  story  of  the  failure  of  Negro 
officers,  he  said  that  the  probabilities  were  that  any 
officers,  white  or  black,  under  the  same  adverse 
circumstances  that  these  men  faced,  would  have 
failed.  A  few  officers  of  the  battalion  were  sent 
before  a  court  martial  for  trial  for  having  shown 
cowardice.  Not  all  of  them,  however,  were  found 
guilty.  And  since  then,  these  cases  have  been  re 
viewed  by  the  War  Department,  and  the  President, 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
has  disapproved  the  proceedings  involving  the  four 
officers  of  the  368th  Infantry  convicted  by  court 
martial  abroad.  After  thorough  investigation  the 
War  Department  issued  the  following  statement 
with  regard  to  this  one  battalion  of  the  368th 
Regiment : 

The  368th  Regiment  had  not  had  battle  experience  prior 
to  its  assignment  to  the  French  brigade.  It  was  expected 
to  operate  as  a  liaison  organization,  maintaining  contact  with 
combat  forces  on  either  side,  but  not  itself  as  an  attacking 
force.  In  the  development  of  the  battle  it  became  necessary 
to  use  the  regiment  in  attack. 

The  ground  over  which  the  368th  Regiment  advanced  was 
extremely  difficult.  It  had  been  fought  over  and  fortified  for 
four  years,  and  consisted  of  a  dense  belt  of  intricate  barbed 

258 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

wire,  through  which  in  four  years  underbrush  had  grown, 
concealing  the  wire  and  making  any  advance  most  difficult. 
The  section  in  which  the  regiment  was  engaged  developed  at 
times  intense  shell,  machine-gun,  and  rifle  fire  and  subjected 
those  troops  to  a  severe  test. 

The  regiment  was  not  fully  supplied  with  wire  cutters, 
maps,  and  signalling  devices.  This  was  in  part  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  troops  were  serving  at  the  time  with  the  French, 
from  whom  the  supply  was  finally  received,  the  delay  being 
caused  doubtless  by  the  hurried  movement  of  the  regiment 
and  the  assumption  on  the  part  of  the  French  that  it  would 
be  supplied  from  American  depots,  and  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans  that  it  would  be  supplied  by  the  French,  with 
whom  it  was  serving — a  misunderstanding  explained  only  by 
the  confusion  and  emergencies  of  battle. 

It  was  gratifying  even  then  to  find  that  the  com 
manding  general,  who  knew  all  phases  of  the  af 
fair,  did  not  take  this  failure  nearly  so  seriously  as 
the  rumour  about  it  seemed  to  suggest.  The  facts 
in  the  case  in  no  sense  justified  the  common  report. 

In  talking  with  the  commanding  general  at  Le 
Mans,  I  referred  to  the  fact  that  something  like 
fifteen  Negro  officers  had  been  sent  back  as  "in 
efficient."  He  said  to  me:  "If  it  is  of  any  comfort 
to  you,  I  will  tell  you  this:  we  sent  back  through 
Blois  to  America,  in  six  months,  an  average  of  one 

259 


FINDING      A       WAY      OUT 

thousand  white  officers  a  month,  who  failed  in  one 
way  or  another  in  this  awful  struggle.  I  hope, 
Doctor  Moton,"  he  added,  "that  you  won't  lose 
your  faith  in  my  race  because  of  this,  and  certainly 
I  am  not  going  to  lose  my  faith  in  your  race  because 
of  the  record  of  a  few  coloured  officers  who  failed." 

We  talked  with  Colonel  House,  Mr.  Ray  Stan- 
nard  Baker,  Captain  Walter  Lippman,  leading 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  workers,  and  many  others.  AH 
assured  me  that  they  were  glad  to  get  the  facts, 
and  that,  so  far  as  they  were  able,  they  would  stop 
the  slanderous  rumours  concerning  our  Negro 
soldiers.  I  spoke  to  white  officers  in  a  number  of 
places — at  one  place  to  two  hundred  of  them — and 
candidly  stated  the  facts  in  the  case.  I  raised  the 
question,  if  they  did  not  think  it  was  a  good  and 
fair  thing  to  stop  this  rumour  of  the  "whispering 
gallery,"  which  was  defaming  a  race,  which  threat 
ened  to  cut  down  the  efficiency  of  Negro  troops, 
and  was,  of  course,  putting  America  in  a  bad  light 
before  the  world. 

Many  of  the  difficulties  and  troubles  among  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  92nd  Division,  as  well  as 
other  coloured  units,  could  have  been  avoided  if  we 

260 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

had  had  at  General  Headquarters  in  France  a 
coloured  man  to  render  the  same  wise,  dignified, 
and  efficient  help  as  Mr.  Emmett  J.  Scott,  secre 
tary  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  so  splendidly  rendered 
in  the  War  Department  at  Washington  to  both 
the  race  and  the  nation.  President  John  Hope, 
of  Morehouse  College,  Atlanta,  Georgia,  who  un 
der  many  and  trying  conditions  had  done  excellent 
work  overseas  in  connection  with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
felt  this  need  very  much.  General  Pershing  would 
gladly  have  had  such  a  man  if  it  had  previously 
occurred  to  any  of  us  to  suggest  it. 

In  almost  every  instance  I  found  the  command 
ing  officers  open  to  suggestions  with  a  view  to  re 
lieving  the  needless  embarrassment  of  the  coloured 
soldiers.  I  found  in  the  Service  of  Supply  that  col 
oured  stevedores  were  working  twelve  and  sixteen 
hours  a  day,  and  sometimes  more,  which  made  it 
impossible  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  to  do  any  effective 
work  along  educational  lines  with  the  thousands  of 
coloured  soldiers  in  this  branch  of  the  service.  I 
took  this  matter  up  with  the  commanding  gen 
eral,  and  within  three  days  orders  had  been  given 
to  reduce  the  time  of  work  to  eight  hours.  At 

261 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

several  places  the  quarters  of  the  coloured  men 
seemed  unfavourably  located.  In  various  in 
stances  changes  were  soon  made. 

I  took  up  with  care  also,  going  to  the  source  of 
the  trouble,  the  matter  of  excluding  coloured  wom 
en  from  France.  Here,  again,  I  found  that  there 
seemed  to  be  no  justification  for  the  general  exclu 
sion  of  women  of  our  race  from  overseas  service. 
This  I  took  up  with  the  proper  authorities,  mili 
tary  and  otherwise,  and  before  I  left  arrangements 
had  been  made  to  send  for  more  of  our  coloured 
women,  and  men  also.  The  best  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
hut  I  saw,  from  every  point  of  view,  was  the  one 
where  Mrs.  W.  A.  Hunton,  Mrs.  J.  L.  Curtis,  and 
Miss  Katharine  Johnson  were  located.  There 
was  here  a  very  fine  spirit  of  cooperation  between 
the  white  and  coloured  workers.  Mr.  Wallace, 
the  manager  of  the  district,  whom  I  later  met  in 
Paris,  was  warm  in  his  praise  of  Secretary  Nichols, 
Secretary  Whiting,  Chaplain  Oveltrea,  and  other 
coloured  workers. 

I  took  the  opportunity  wherever  it  presented  it 
self  to  speak  to  our  men  about  the  splendid  record 
which  they  were  making  and  of  the  danger  that 

262 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

would  attend  any  failure  on  their  part  to  maintain 
their  record  untarnished.     I  said: 

The  record  you  have  made  in  this  war,  of  faithfulness, 
bravery,  and  loyalty,  has  deepened  my  faith  in  you  as  men 
and  as  soldiers,  as  well  as  in  my  race  and  country.  You  have 
been  tremendously  tested.  You  have  suffered  hardships 
and  many  privations.  You  have  been  called  upon  to  make 
many  sacrifices.  Your  record  has  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  and 
satisfaction  tb  the  hearts  of  millions  of  black  and  white 
Americans,  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low.  Black  mothers  and 
wives,  sweethearts,  fathers,  and  friends  have  rejoiced  with 
you  and  with  our  country  in  your  record. 

You  will  go  back  to  America  heroes,  as  you  really  are. 
You  will  go  back  as  you  have  carried  yourselves  over  here — 
in  a  straightforward,  manly,  and  modest  way.  If  I  were 
you,  I  would  find  a  job  as  soon  as  possible  and  get  to  work. 
To  those  who  have  not  already  done  so,  I  would  suggest 
that  you  get  hold  of  a  piece  of  land  and  a  home  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  marry  and  settle  down.  .  .  .  Save  your 
money,  and  put  it  into  something  tangible.  I  hope  no  one 
will  do  anything  in  peace  to  spoil  the  magnificent  record 
you  have  made  in  war. 

In  the  same  way  I  took  advantage  of  many  op 
portunities  to  speak  to  white  soldiers,  officers  and 
men,  about  their  duty  to  their  coloured  comrades 
who  were  sharing  with  them  the  hardships  of  the 
war.  I  said  in  my  talk: 

263 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

These  black  soldiers,  officers  and  men,  have  with  you 
willingly  and  gladly  placed  their  lives  at  the  disposal  of  their 
country,  not  only"  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy,"  but, 
of  equal  importance,  "to  make  democracy  safe  for  mankind, 
/  black  and  white.  You  and  they  go  back  to  America  as 
v  heroes,  brave  and  modest,  of  course,  but  there  is  a  difference; 
you  go  back  without  let  or  hindrance  with  every  opportunity 
our  beloved  country  offers  open  to  you.  You  are  heirs  of 
all  the  ages.  God  has  never  given  any  race  more  than  he  has 
given  to  you.  The  men  of  my  race  who  return  will  have 
many  unnecessary  hardships  and  limitations  along  many 
lines.  What  a  wonderful  opportunity  you  have,  therefore, 
and  what  a  great  responsibility  for  you,  to  go  back  to  Amer 
ica  resolved  that  so  far  as  in  your  power  lies  you  are  going 
to  see  that  these  black  men  and  the  twelve  millions  of  people 
whom  they  represent  in  our  great  country,  who  have  stood  so 
loyally  by  you  and  America  in  peace  and  in  war,  shall  have  a 
fair  and  absolutely  equal  chance  with  every  other  American 
citizen,  along  every  line.  This  is  your  sacred  obligation  and 
duty.  They  ask  only  fair  play  and,  as  loyal  American  citi 
zens,  they  should  have  it. 

I  cannot  conclude  without  again  mentioning 
the  heroic  record  of  all  of  our  men  in  France,  es 
pecially  the  Negro  officers,  who,  in  spite  of  hard 
ships  and  discrimination  from  sources  which 
should  have  accorded  them  much  encouragement, 
went  into  battle  with  dash,  courage,  and  an  abso 
lutely  unshaken  and  undisturbed  morale.  I  do 

264 


WAR      ACTIVITIES 

not  believe  that  men  of  any  other  race,  under 
similarly  trying  circumstances,  could  have  retained 
more  self-possession  and  made  a  more  glorious 
record  than  did  our  Negro  soldiers,  officers  and 
men.  I  am  glad  that  most  of  those  from  Tuskegee 
Institute  have  returned  and  taken  up  their  work 
as  before.  We  cherish,  however,  the  memory  of 
Lieut.  Henry  H.  Boger,  one  of  our  teachers,  who, 
with  many  other  brave  Americans,  sleeps  beneath 
the  sacred  soil  of  France. 

Before   leaving  France  for  London,   President 
Wilson  sent  me  the  following  letter: 

Paris,  January  I,  1919. 

DEAR  PRINCIPAL  MOTON:  I  wish  to  express  my  apprecia 
tion  for  the  service  you  have  rendered  during  the  past  few 
weeks  in  connection  with  our  coloured  soldiers  here  in  France. 
I  have  heard,  not  only  of  the  wholesome  advice  you  have 
given  them  regarding  their  conduct  during  the  time  they  will 
remain  in  France  but  also  of  your  advice  as  to  how  they 
should  conduct  themselves  when  they  return  to  our  own 
shores.  I  very  much  hope,  as  you  have  advised,  that  no 
one  of  them  may  do  anything  to  spoil  the  splendid  record  that 
they,  with  the  rest  of  our  American  forces,  have  made. 
Cordially  and  sincerely  yours, 

WOODROW  WILSON. 


365 


CHAPTER  XII 

FORWARD   MOVEMENTS    IN    THE    SOUTH 

THE  years  since  the  Civil  War  have  seen  the 
race  problem  come  to  the  point  where  it  may  be 
discussed  without  the  passion  and  prejudice  which 
for  so  many  years  were  characteristic  of  many  who 
essayed  to  deal  with  it.  I  recall  an  experience  of 
mine  of  some  twenty  years  ago  when  a  prominent 
Southern  clergyman  dropped  into  my  office  at 
Hampton  Institute  one  evening  and  we  fell  into  a 
rather  frank  and  somewhat  heated  discussion  of 
certain  phases  of  the  race  question.  At  the  end 
of  something  like  an  hour  and  a  half  of  earnest 
conversation,  it  was  apparent,  as  was  to  be  ex 
pected,  that  we  did  not  wholly  agree  upon  some 
aspects  of  the  question;  but  as  we  parted  he  turned 
to  me  and  said,  "  Major  Moton,  our  conversation 
may  have  struck  you  as  rather  unpleasant  in  some 
of  its  features,  but  for  fear  that  it  may  discourage 
you  in  your  efforts  to  promote  harmony  between 

266 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

your  race  and  mine,  I  want  to  say  that  I  think  we 
are  both  to  be  congratulated  on  the  fact  that  I  have 
reached  the  point  where  it  is  possible  for  me  to  dis 
cuss  this  question  with  you,  or  with  any  other  col 
oured  man."  There  are  a  great  many  such  people 
in  the  South  to-day,  and  this  attitude  has  become 
much  more  general  than  most  people  who  do  not 
come  in  touch  with  the  situation  realize. 

Many  forces  have  been  operating  more  or  less 
quietly,  but  none  the  less  effectively,  to  bring  about 
this  change  of  attitude  toward  this  one-time  delicate 
and  embarrassing  problem.  For  there  was  a  time 
when  most  Southern  white  men  felt  that  there  was 
nothing  about  the  question  of  the  Negro  to  discuss 
with  anybody,  and  especially  with  persons,  white 
or  black,  whose  opinions  were  likely  to  differ  from 
their  own. 

For  a  great  many  years  I  entertained  the  idea 
that  while  the  Southern  man  thought  logically  and 
clearly  on  economic,  political,  religious,  and  other 
questions  affecting  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the 
country,  here  was  one  question  upon  which  he  did 
not  think  at  all,  but  rather/*?// — that  on  this  matter 
he  had  definite,  fixed  opinions  about  which  argument 

267 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

was  unnecessary  and  upon  which  nothing  further 
could  be  said.  But  no  one  can  justly  entertain 
that  idea  about  Southern  white  men  as  a  whole 
to-day.  While  they  still  feel  strongly  on  many 
points  concerning  the  relations  of  the  two  races, 
there  are  increasingly  large  numbers  in  all  parts 
of  the  South  who  are  thinking,  both  logically  and 
seriously,  on  all  points  touching  race  relationships, 
with  a  sincere  desire  to  bring  about  such  a  happy 
and  wholesome  adjustment  as  will  be  fair  and  just 
to  both  races. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  true  at  one  time  that 
the  great  majority  of  coloured  people  had  very 
little  confidence  in  the  ability  or  even  the  desire 
of  the  average  Southern  white  man  to  approach 
this  question  without  bias,  and  in  consequence 
looked  with  suspicion  upon  any  profession  of 
friendliness  or  good  will  toward  the  black  man  that 
came  from  that  source.  Doctor  Washington  in  his 
early  career  was  frequently  criticized  by  members 
of  his  own  race  for  his  freely  expressed  confidence  in 
the  genuineness  of  the  Southern  white  man's  friend 
ship  for  the  Negro.  But  in  late  years  the  Negro's 
confidence  in  his  white  neighbour  here  in  the  South 

268 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

has  grown  to  the  point  where  he  is  turning  more 
naturally  to  the  Southern  white  man  in  the  con 
fident  hope  that  together  they  will  work  out 
without  prejudice  or  suspicion  the  great  human 
problems  that  confront  them.  Throughout  the 
South  the  coloured  people  are  bringing  directly  and 
officially  to  the  attention  of  the  public  the  pal 
pably  inadequate  provisions  for  the  education  of 
their  children,  and  are  meeting  with  an  increasingly 
sympathetic  and  encouraging  response  both  from 
the  state  and  from  private  citizens. 

This  change  in  attitude  on  the  part  of  both 
races  has  come  about  not  through  indifference  and 
neglect  and  the  proverbial  working  of  time,  but  as  a 
result  of  certain  carefully  thought-out  and  delib 
erately  planned  movements  in  which  Northern 
white  men,  Southern  white  men,  and  Negroes  have 
wisely  and  bravely  cooperated — movements  which 
I  have  sometimes  felt  have  been  very  much  mis 
understood  and  the  value  of  whose  service  to  the 
South  and  to  the  nation  has  been  greatly  under 
estimated. 

Among  the  first  of  these  was  the  Conference  for 
Education  in  the  South,  inaugurated  by  a  few  men, 

269 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

Northerners  and  Southerners,  who  met  in  a  little 
hotel  in  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia,  which  con 
ference  was  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  William  L. 
Wilson  of  tariff  fame  and  at  one  time  president  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University.  This  conference 
emphasized  the  necessity  of  educating  all  the  chil 
dren  of  the  South.  In  the  years  that  followed,  this 
movement  brought  together  such  men  as  Mr.  Rob 
ert  C.  Ogden,  who  became  one  of  America's  great 
educational  statesmen;  Mr.  William  H.  Baldwin,  Jr., 
who  here  received  the  inspiration  for  the  General 
Education  Board,  of  which  he  was  the  first  chairman; 
Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  who,  with  his  father,  lib 
erally  supported  the  movement  in  its  development; 
Mr.  Edgar  Gardner  Murphy  of  Alabama,  secretary 
of  the  conference  until  his  death;  President  Edwin 
Alderman  of  the  University  of  Virginia;  Mr.  George 
Foster  Peabody  of  New  York;  Dr.  J.  D.  Eggleston, 
now  president  of  Hampden  Sydney  College  of  Vir 
ginia;  Dr.  H.  B.  Frissell  of  Hampton  Institute;  Mrs. 
B.  B.  Munford,  one  of  Virginia's  most  distinguished 
women;  Dr.  Walter  H.  Page,  late  ambassador  of 
America  to  Great  Britain,  a  genuine  and  unaffected 
American;  and  Dr.  Wallace  Buttrick,  for  many 

270 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

years  secretary  and  now  president  of  the  General 
Education  Board. 

I  doubt  if  any  movement  in  America  has  accom 
plished  more  in  creating  sentiment  or  has  so  strongly 
affected  public  appropriations  for  education.  As  a 
result  of  this  movement  one  state  alone  erected 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  seventy  high  schools  in  a 
single  year,  while  in  a  few  years  appropriations  for 
education  in  Southern  states  were  increased  by  more 
than  sixteen  million  dollars. 

There  is  also  a  close  and  intimate  connection 
between  this  conference  and  the  establishment  of 
the  General  Education  Board,  which,  in  supporting 
the  farm-demonstration  movement,  introduced  by 
Dr.  Seaman  A.  Knapp,  and  in  its  present  programme 
of  providing  supervisors  for  rural  schools  in  coopera 
tion  with  state  and  county  boards  of  education  in 
the  South,  and  making  direct  appropriations  to 
selected  educational  institutions,  is  sowing  the  seed 
of  educational  and  economic  advancement  in  the 
field  which  was  prepared  by  the  labours  of  this 
group  of  distinguished  and  public-spirited  men  and 
women  who  constituted  the  Conference  for  Educa 
tion  in  the  South.  The  very  substantial  service 

271 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

which  the  General  Education  Board  is  rendering 
will  become  increasingly  apparent  with  the  years. 

Another  force  that  has  been  very  effective  in 
bringing  about  a  better  understanding  and  a 
greater  measure  of  confidence  between  the  races 
is  the  Negro  Rural  School  Fund:  Anna  T.  Jeanes 
Foundation.  This  organization  is  unique  in  the 
fact  that  on  its  official  Board  Negroes,  Northern 
white  men,  and  Southern  white  men  are  mutually 
sharing  the  responsibilities  of  a  constructive  pro 
gramme  of  education  in  the  South  which  makes 
possible  an  active  cooperation  of  the  races  in  educa 
tional  matters,  which  by  many  was  not  previously 
thought  possible.  The  unique  personnel  of  this 
Board,  I  have  no  doubt,  was  made  possible  as  a  result 
of  the  sentiment  created  by  the  Conference  for 
Education  in  the  South  and  the  activities  of  the 
General  Education  Board. 

It  was  through  Doctor  Frissell  and  Doctor  Wash 
ington  that  this  fund  was  established,  and  to 
them  Miss  Jeanes  entrusted  the  responsibility  for 
the  organization  of  its  Board.  These  gentlemen 
united  in  the  selection  of  Dr.  James  H.  Dillard,  dean 
of  Tulane  University,  New  Orleans,  as  president. 

272 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

and  associated  with  him  were,  of  course,  Doctor 
Washington  and  Doctor  Frissell  and  such  men  as  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie,  Bishop  Abraham  Grant  of  the  A. 
M.  E.  Church;  Chancellor  David  C.  Barrow  of  the 
University  of  Georgia;  Mr.  Robert  L.  Smith,  a  Negro 
banker  of  Texas;  Dr.  Talcott  Williams  of  the  Pulit 
zer  School  of  Journalism;  Dr.  Samuel  C.  Mitchell, 
then  of  the  University  of  South  Carolina  and  now 
president  of  Delaware  College ;  Mr.  George  McAneny 
of  New  York;  and  Mr.  J.  Napier,  lawyer  and  banker 
of  Nashville,  Tennessee.  The  Hon.  William  H.  Taft, 
at  that  time  Secretary  of  War,  was  also  a  member  of 
the  Board,  and  later,  on  becoming  President  of  the 
United  States,  invited  the  Board  to  hold  its  annual 
sessions  in  the  Cabinet  room  of  the  White  House. 

As  secretary  of  the  Board  from  the  beginning, 
it  was  to  me  a  source  of  continual  encouragement  to 
witness  the  fine  spirit  with  which  these  men  ap 
proached,  not  only  the  problems  of  education,  but 
also  the  problems  affecting  the  whole  life  of  the 
Negro  and  the  South.  Following  the  death  of 
Doctor  Washington  and  Doctor  Frissell,  succes 
sively  chairmen  of  the  Executive  Committee,  it  has 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  discharge  the  duties  of  chairman. 

273 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

When  Doctor  Dillard  was  asked  to  become 
president  and  general  agent  of  the  Foundation, 
there  was  considerable  skepticism  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  such  a  course,  Doctor  Dillard  being  a  Southerner, 
born  in  Virginia,  and  for  many  years  professor  in  a 
prominent  educational  institution  in  Louisiana. 
There  was  considerable  doubt  on  the  part  of  many 
whether  the  best  interests  of  the  coloured  people 
would  be  served  by  the  selection  of  such  a  man 
to  become  the  executive  officer  of  a  movement 
designed  especially  to  help  in  the  educational  de 
velopment  of  the  Negro.  The  history  of  the  move 
ment  since  that  time  has  abundantly  justified  the 
wisdom  of  the  choice.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a 
man  anywhere  in  America  who  has  displayed  more 
tact,  thoughtfulness,  patience,  and  courage  in  deal 
ing  with  the  intricate  and  delicate  problems  that 
one  must  meet  in  striving  to  adjust  race  relations 
in  the  South  than  has  Dr.  James  Hardy  Dil 
lard.  Growing  out  of  his  activities  with  the  Jeanes 
Fund,  he  was  later  asked  to  administer  the  John 
F.  Slater  Fund,  a  similar  foundation  established 
earlier  for  the  promotion  of  education  among 
Negroes.  The  handling  of  these  two  funds  has 

274 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

enabled  him  to  touch  large  numbers  of  Negro 
school  teachers  in  every  part  of  the  South,  who 
are  helped,  encouraged,  and  inspired  by  his  kindly 
and  sympathetic,  yet  sober  and  efficient,  approach 
to  the  problems  of  educating  a  race  generally  eager 
to  learn,  but  often,  like  others,  mistaken  in  its  ideas 
of  what  education  really  means.  He  has  had  associ 
ated  with  him  two  men,  one  coloured  and  one  white : 
Mr.  W.  T.  B.  Williams  and  Mr.  B.  C.  Caldwell, 
both  of  whom  have  much  the  same  spirit  as  Doctor 
Dillard  himself.  These  three  men  have  set  an  ex 
ample  for  the  entire  country  of  the  way  in  which  it 
is  possible  for  black  and  white  men  in  the  South  to 
work  together  with  entire  self-respect  and  to  win 
the  respect,  confidence,  and  appreciation  of  the 
people  of  both  races. 

Doctor  Dillard  from  the  beginning  saw,  what  is 
becoming  more  and  more  evident  to  thoughtful 
workers  among  coloured  people,  that  there  can  be 
no  substantial  and  permanent  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  the  Negro  in  the  South  without  a 
serious  and  sympathetic  effort  to  create  among 
Southern  white  people  an  intelligent  interest  in  the 
condition  and  needs  of  the  coloured  people  by 

275 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

whom  they  are  surrounded  and  who  form  so  im 
portant  and  indeed  an  indispensable  part  of  the  life 
of  the  South.  The  University  Race  Commission, 
composed  of  certain  professors  in  each  Southern 
State  University,  represents  the  practical  applica 
tion  of  these  ideas  in  the  most  important  educational 
circles  of  this  section.  These  gentlemen  for  several 
years  have  conducted  a  serious  and  painstaking 
study  of  actual  conditions  existing  among  Negroes 
in  their  several  localities,  and  have  used  the  results 
of  their  study  in  connection  with  the  university 
courses  in  sociology.  Each  year  the  Commission 
has  issued  a  statement,  setting  forth  the  results 
and  conclusions  of  the  year's  study,  which  is  widely 
circulated  in  Southern  publications,  as  well  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  country,  and  has  had  a  strong 
influence  in  shaping  the  thought  and  opinion  of 
educated  men  and  women  in  the  South  toward 
the  Negro. 

Along  with  the  movements  already  referred  to 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  fos 
tered  a  plan  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  W.  D. 
Weatherford  whereby  large  classes  in  most  South 
ern  educational  institutions  have  been  organized 

276 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

for  the  study  of  the  race  question,  using  text  books 
prepared  by  Doctor  Weatherford  himself,  and  other 
literature  issued  by  other  organizations  pertaining 
to  this  same  subject.  In  support  of  this  project 
the  Phelps-Stokes  Fund  has  established  fellowships 
in  certain  of  these  institutions  for  the  extended 
study  of  this  question  by  young  white  men  of 
university  training,  who  are  looking  forward  to  a 
field  of  service  in  the  larger  development  of  the 
South.  In  many  of  these  communities  there  has 
grown  out  of  this  movement  a  group  of  young 
college  men  who  are  dealing  with  the  question,  not 
only  from  a  conventional,  academic  viewpoint,  but 
by  direct  and  immediate  contact  with  welfare 
activities  among  Negroes  in  much  the  same  way 
that  led  Dr.  John  Little  of  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
and  others  of  like  spirit,  to  devote  their  lives  to 
work  among  coloured  people. 

There  have  been  among  women  also  strong  move 
ments  to  bring  about  a  larger  sympathy  and  cooper 
ation  between  the  women  of  the  two  races  in  the 
South.  It  is  not  infrequent  that  coloured  women 
are  asked  to  address  audiences  of  white  women 
on  this  subject  under  the  auspices  of  such  organiza- 

277 


FINDING      A       WAY      OUT 

tions  as  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa 
tion,  state  federations  of  women's  clubs,  and  the 
women's  auxiliaries  of  the  various  denominations. 
Few  people  know  of  the  great  service  that  Mrs. 
L.  H.  Hammond,  as  executive  secretary  of  the 
Southern  Publicity  Committee,  is  rendering  the 
general  movement  for  inter-racial  cooperation  by 
putting  before  the  public,  through  the  Southern 
press,  the  hopeful,  constructive  things  that  white 
people  and  black  people  are  doing  together,  thereby 
doing  much  to  offset  the  wide  publicity  that  is 
often  given  to  instances  of  friction  between  in 
dividuals  of  the  two  races,  which  are  by  no  means 
so  common  as  the  instances  in  which  they  cooperate. 

I  have  not  been  officially  connected  with  all  of 
these  movements,  but  it  has  nevertheless  been  my 
privilege  and  a  source  of  much  personal  satisfac 
tion  frequently  to  be  called  into  counsel  concerning 
their  plans  and  policies,  and  to  interpret  to  the  best 
of  my  knowledge  not  only  the  feelings  of  my  own 
people,  but  also,  what  is  sometimes  more  difficult, 
their  desires  and  aspirations. 

Most  conspicuous  perhaps  among  this  type  of 
activities  is  the  Southern  Sociological  Congress, 

278 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH' 

whose  operations  were  made  possible  for  a  number 
of  years  through  the  interest  and  generosity  of 
Mrs.  Anna  Russell  Cole  of  Augusta,  Georgia.  This 
organization  usually  meets  once  each  year,  at 
which  time  an  opportunity  is  given  to  representa 
tive  white  and  coloured  people  for  the  free  and 
candid  discussion  of  any  phase  of  the  race  question 
which  the  events  of  the  year  have  brought  into 
prominence.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  appearing 
before  this  Congress  on  more  than  one  occasion 
and  have  been  deeply  impressed  with  the  sincerity 
and  sanity  of  its  deliberations.  Among  its  pre 
siding  officers  have  been  men  of  the  type  of  ex- 
Governor  W.  H.  Mann  of  Virginia,  Bishop  Theo 
dore  D.  Bratton  of  Mississippi,  and  ex-Governor 
B.  W.  Hooper  of  Tennessee.  Its  secretary  from  the 
beginning  has  been  Dr.  J.  E.  McCulloch,  formerly 
of  Nashville,  who  has  been  untiring  in  his  efforts  to 
make  it  a  constructive  force  in  furthering  unsel 
fish  cooperation  between  the  races. 

More  recent  than  any  of  these  is  a  movement 
fraught  with  great  possibilities  for  removing  racial 
friction,  organized  in  the  city  of  Atlanta  just  before 
the  close  of  the  war  by  representative  white  men 

279 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

from  all  the  Southern  states  under  the  leadership  of 
a  group  of  men  among  whom  were  Mr.  John  J. 
Eagan,  a  prominent  banker  of  Atlanta;  Dr.  M.  Ash- 
by  Jones,  a  Baptist  minister  of  the  same  city;  Dr. 
Wm.  Louis  Poteat,  president  of  Wake  Forest  Col 
lege  in  North  Carolina;  Dr.  Robert  H.  McCaslin, 
a  Presbyterian  minister  of  Montgomery,  Alabama; 
and  Dr.  Charles  W.  Crisler,  of  Mississippi. 

In  this  movement  a  group  of  white  men  is  work 
ing  with  a  similar  group  of  coloured  men  who  to 
gether  are  quietly  and  effectively  organizing  like 
groups  of  both  races  in  every  state  and  county  and 
city  in  the  South.  This  movement  is  made  possible 
by  the  financial  assistance  and  cooperation  of  the 
War  Work  Council  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  The  co 
operation  of  such  coloured  men  as  President  John 
Hope  of  Morehouse  College,  Atlanta;  Prof.  R.  B. 
Hudson,  secretary-treasurer  of  the  National  Baptist 
Con  vent  ion;  Mr.  Harry  H.  Pace,  secretary-treasurer 
of  the  Standard  Life  Insurance  Company;Mr.  Isaac 
Fisher,  editor  of  the  Fisk  University  News,  and  Dr. 
H.  H.  Proctor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church, 
Atlanta :  with  such  white  men  as  I  have  mentioned 
above  insures  the  vital  character  of  the  interest 

280 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

which  these  men  have  in  the  progress  and  develop 
ment  of  the  South.  This  group  of  substantial 
Southern  men,  in  a  way  that  is  not  true  of 
any  other  of  these  movements,  has  organized  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  securing  for  the  Negro, 
in  every  community,  fair  and  just  treatment 
under  the  law  as  well  as  an  equitable  share  in  all 
those  privileges  and  benefits  for  which  he  is  taxed 
as  a  citizen.  Though  the  movement  is  still  in  the 
early  stage  of  development,  definite  results  are 
already  manifesting  themselves." 

In  quite  another  way  there  is  a  tendency  toward 
greater  consideration,  especially  on  the  part  of 
many  large  manufacturing  establishments,  for 
the  welfare  of  their  coloured  employes.  In  these 
plants  may  be  found  what  are  known  as  "effi 
ciency  men,"  whose  business  it  is  to  look  after  the 
morale  of  the  coloured  workers.  The  efficiency 
man  has  access  at  any  time  to  the  highest  official 
of  the  plant,  to  whom  he  is  directly  responsible 
and  to  whom  he  is  privileged  to  bring  any  matter 
pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  these  employes  that 
in  his  judgment  might  increase  their  efficiency  and 
thereby  contribute  to  the  advancement  of  the 

281 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

company's  interests.  I  think  now  of  the  Tennessee 
Coal  and  Iron  Company,  with  headquarters  at 
Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  establishments  in  other 
parts  of  the  South,  which  has  for  some  time  em 
ployed  Mr.  Melvin  J.  Chisum  at  a  comfortable  sal 
ary,  to  render  this  kind  of  service  for  the  company. 
He  has  the  confidence  of  both  the  employes  and  the 
management,  and  this  company  has  found  that  it 
is  good  business  to  have  a  strong,  level-headed,  and 
conscientious  coloured  man  to  deal  directly  with 
its  coloured  workers.  I  was  told  by  the  president 
of  one  esablishment  that  such  an  official  had  re 
duced  the  friction  by  more  than  50  per  cent.; 
that  the  men  were  working  much  more  regularly; 
and  that  the  labour  turnover  or  shifting  had  been 
similarly  lessened. 

Out  of  these  organized  movements  there  has 
grown  up  in  almost  every  community  a  group  of 
white  and  coloured  men  who  cooperate  in  an  un 
organized  way  in  the  prevention  of  much  mis 
understanding  and  friction  and  the  protection  of 
the  interests  of  the  entire  community.  Coloured 
men  coming  from  the  North  into  these  communi 
ties  have  often  been  surprised  by  the  cordial  way 

282 


FORWARD     MOV.  EMENTS     IN    THE     SOUTH 

in  which  they  have  been  received  by  prominent 
Southern  men  who  have  talked  freely  with  them  on 
many  phases  of  this  human  problem. 

I  remember  that  Mr.  Fred  R.  Moore,  editor  of 
the  New  York  Age,  not  long  ago  visited  many  parts 
of  the  South  and  interviewed  men  of  both  races 
in  many  walks  of  life;  among  these  was  an  ex- 
governor  to  whom  Negroes  outside  of  the  local 
community  would  hardly  have  turned  in  their 
difficulties.  He  went  into  the  interview  prepared 
for  almost  anything,  and  was  greatly  surprised  at 
the  apparent  cordiality  with  which  he  was  received 
and  the  perfect  candour  with  which  they  talked 
of  the  difficulties  facing  the  races.  Many  other 
men  are  having  similar  experiences,  all  of  which 
show  the  hopefulness  of  present-day  events  in  the 
South.  Twenty-five  years  ago  such  experiences 
would  have  been  very  rare,  but  to-day  they  are  the 
rule  rather  than  the  exception. 

But  in  many  ways  the  most  significant  and  sub 
stantial  of  these  forward  movements  in  the  South, 
and  one  that  is  touching  more  people  and  vitalizing 
more  interests  than  any  other  movement  of  its 
character,  is  the  Rosenwald  School-Building  Pro- 

283 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

ject.  This  movement  began  when  Mr.  Julius 
Rosenwald — one  of  America's  most  distinguished 
citizens  and  philanthropists,  already  referred  to  as 
one  of  our  Tuskegee  Trustees — put  into  the  hands 
of  Doctor  Washington  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to 
make  an  experiment  in  school  building  in  six  rural 
communities  of  Alabama.  Doctor  Washington 
felt  that,  with  a  few  hundred  dollars  from  outside 
sources,  he  could  encourage  the  coloured  people  and 
induce  the  white  people  by  private  contributions 
and  official  appropriations  to  add  to  Mr.  Rosen- 
wald's  gift  a  sum  sufficient  to  erect  and  equip  a 
modern  one-teacher  school  building  for  Negroes 
in  each  of  these  communities.  Mr.  Rosenwald 
was  so  well  pleased  with  the  success  of  this  experi 
ment  that  at  the  present  time  he  is  providing  a 
budget  of  something  like  $140,000  a  year  for  the 
building  of  rural  schools  for  Negroes  in  eleven 
Southern  states.  In  four  years  720  schools  have 
been  built  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  C.  J.  Gallo 
way,  director  of  the  Extension  Department  of 
Tuskegee  Institute,  at  a  cost  of  $  i ,  1 3  3 ,083 ,  of  which 
sum  $337,192  represents  public  appropriations; 
$88,445,  private  contributions  from  white  people; 

284 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

$430,381,  the  gifts  of  coloured  people;  and  $227,065, 
the  gift  of  Mr.  Rosenwald.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  the  beneficence  of  Mr.  Rosenwald  has  pro 
duced  an  additional  sum  of  $906,018,  all  of  which 
has  gone  directly  into  the  providing  of  improved 
facilities  for  Negro  education  in  the  South. 

Another  result  of  the  Rosenwald  movement, 
larger  and  more  important,  is  the  awakened  sense 
of  greater  responsibility  for  Negro  education,  not 
only  on  the  part  of  public  school  authorities,  but 
on  the  part  of  the  Southern  people  in  general  for 
more  adequate  educational  provision  for  Negroes. 
An  indirect  but  no  less  significant  result  of  the 
movement  has  been  the  added  stimulus  given  to 
education  in  general  in  the  South,  which  is  bringing 
increased  appropriations  for  this  purpose  in  almost 
every  community. 

These  Rosenwald  schools  are  not  merely  school 
houses  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  they  are  commun 
ity  centres  from  which  influences  radiate  into  all 
the  avenues  of  Negro  life,  and  where  not  infre 
quently  both  white  and  coloured  people  meet  for 
the  consideration  of  matters  affecting  the  general 
welfare  of  the  community.  It  was  my  privilege 

285 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

recently  to  share  in  such  a  gathering  in  north 
Alabama,  where  the  principal  of  the  white  high 
school  suspended  the  regular  school  work  and 
brought  his  faculty  and  entire  student  body  to 
the  dedication  of  one  of  these  Rosenwald  schools, 
which  had  been  recently  completed  through  the 
united  efforts  of  citizens  of  both  races.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  helpful  meetings 
in  which  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  participate. 
The  multiplying  of  such  centres  throughout  the 
South,  as  Mr.  Rosenwald  is  doing,  is  setting  in 
motion  a  sentiment  for  inter-racial  good  will  and 
cooperation,  out  of  which  there  must  ultimately 
come  the  larger  freedom  and  greater  justice  for 
which  all  true  Americans  are  striving. 

I  have  taken  some  pains  thus  to  recount  certain 
forward-looking  movements  that  are  outstanding 
in  their  effect  on  our  Southern  life.  In  doing  so 
I  have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  injustice,  dis 
crimination,  and  unfair  treatment  which  my  people 
are  all  too  often  obliged  to  face  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  I  am  here 
trying  to  fix  attention  upon  those  strong  and  ever- 
widening  currents  of  constructive  endeavour  which 

286 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

move  forward  with  a  swiftness  that  accentuates 
the  eddies  of  passion  and  prejudice  which  appear 
along  their  course. 

In  all  the  years  of  my  experience  I  have  found 
that  a  great  deal  more  is  accomplished  when  one 
does  not  permit  himself  to  dwell  overmuch  upon 
the  difficulties  and  discouragements  which  he 
encounters,  but  keeps  constantly  before  his  mind 
those  forces  and  influences  which  make  for  the 
removal  of  the  very  obstacles  which  often  hamper 
his  progress.  Knowing  as  I  do  the  inner  workings 
of  these  movements  which  I  have  described,  and 
the  character  and  spirit  of  the  men  behind  them,  I 
am  satisfied  that  we  have  in  them  a  force  and  an  in 
fluence  making  for  righteousness  that  cannot  be 
defeated. 

We  all  realize  that  the  patient  loyalty  and  self- 
denying  devotion  of  the  black  man  in  America 
should  have  brought  him  more  of  the  blessings  and 
privileges  of  the  civilization  which  his  labour  has 
helped  to  construct  and  his  valour  has  helped  to 
preserve.  Nevertheless,  in  the  forty  years  that 
have  passed  since  I  envied  Sam  Reed  his  place 
in  the  "big  house"  at  "Pleasant  Shade "  and  was 

287 


FINDING      A      WAY      OUT 

unwittingly  stung  into  reflection  by  my  erstwhile 
friend,  Ernest  Morton,  I  have  seen  changes  in  the 
situation  and  condition  of  my  own  race,  as  well  as  in 
my  own  life,  such  as  the  most  sanguine  of  that  day 
would  hardly  have  predicted.  Little  did  I  think  as  I 
played  with  George  Denny,  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian 
minister  on  the  red  hills  of  Piedmont,  Virginia, 
that  forty  years  later  I  would  be  working  in  coop 
eration  with  Dr.  George  H.  Denny,  the  president 
of  the  University  of  Alabama — he,  among  his  peo 
ple,  training  the  youth  of  his  race  to  a  clearer  un 
derstanding  of  and  a  broader  sympathy  with  all 
humanity,  and  I,  among  my  people,  training,  as  best 
I  may,  the  youth  of  my  race  to  greater  fortitude 
and  a  larger  faith  in  themselves  and  in  other  selves. 
And  to-day  I  do  not  know  of  any  work  that 
offers  larger  returns  or  more  satisfactory  results 
to  conscientious  endeavour  than  the  privilege  that 
is  granted  to  some  of  us  to  work  with  the  people 
of  our  own  race  in  cooperation  with  men  and 
women  of  other  races  in  the  solution  of  these  very 
human  problems  which  all  men  have  faced  in  one 
form  or  another  in  all  ages  of  the  world's  history. 
And  nowhere  would  I  rather  be  found  working 

288 


FORWARD  MOVEMENTS  IN  THE  SOUTH 

than  right  here  in  Alabama,  where  the  standards 
of  such  work  have  been  set  so  high  by  a  great  soul 
of  my  own  people,  whose  spirit  still  inspires  the 
labours  of  both  races  in  their  efforts  to  bring  men 
to  that  good  will  which  is  the  highest  hope  of  hu 
manity. 


THE    END 


INDEX 


Activities,    Personal,  at    Hampton, 

187 

Adams,  Lewis,  212 

Alderman,  President  Edwin,  270 

Alexander,  Dr.,  6 

Amelia  County,  4,  6,  13,  29,  40 

Ancestry,  1-13 

Anna  T.  Jeanes  Foundation,  272 

Armstrong,  General,  accepts  appli 
cation  for  admission,  47;  first 
Sunday  evening  talk,  61;  intro 
duces  Dr.  Washington,  63;  his 
class  in  psychology,  108;  suggests 
work  at  Hampton,  122;  decides 
on  coloured  Commandant,  131-4; 
stricken  with  paralysis,  136;  soli 
citude  for  quartette,  136;  last 
days,  138-142;  idea  of  Northern 
activities,  154;  with  comrades  at 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  158;  attitude  of 
coloured  people,  163 

Assistant  Commandant,  appointed 
as,  122 

Atlanta  University,  153 

Attwell,  E.  T.,  247 

Baldwin,  Wm.  H.,  Jr.,  270 
Baldwin,  Annie  G.,  52 
Baliou,  Gen.  C.  C,  238-241 
Baker,  Sec'y  Newton  D.,  242,  244, 

250 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard,  260 
Bancroft,  Edgar  A.,  201 
Banks,  Charles,  179 


Barnett,  Claude  A.,  220 

Barrow,  Chancellor  David  C.,  272 

Berkeley,  Rev.  Armstead,  48,  81 

Bible,  30,  44,  54 

Birth,  17 

Blanton,  J.  E.,  222 

Boger,  Lieut.  Henry  H.,  265 

Booth,  Jennie  D.,  186 

Bowen,  Cornelia,  215 

Bradford,  Dr.  Amory  H.,  comment, 

161 

Brandon,  George,  169 
Bratton,  Bishop  Theodore  B.,  279 
Brent,  Bishop,  251 
Briggs,  F.  C.,  53 
Brown,  Lee,  30,  34,  49 
Brown,  Hugh  M.,  166 
Bruyer,  John,  116 
Bullock,  Judge  W.  S.,  183 
Bumstead,  Dr.  Horace,  153 
Butler's  School,  50 
Buttrick,  Dr.  Wallace,  169,  270 

Cabaniss,  Dr.  George  W.,  239 
Caldwell,  B.  C,  275 
Calhoun,  R.  C.,  190 
Call  to  Tuskegee,  196-202 
Galloway,  C.  J.,  284 
Campbell,  Mr.  George  W.,  212 
Campbell,  Mr.  W.  W.,  200,  209 
Carlisle  School,  123 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  272 
Carver,  Prof.  George  W.,  225 
Charlotte  County,  Va.,  6 


291 


INDEX 


Chisholm,  Melvin  J.,  282 

Christmas  Celebration  at  Cotton- 
town,  91 

Christmas  Episode  at  Hampton,  in 

Civil  War,  3,  12,  158,  266 

Claxton,  Dr.  P.  P.,  243 

Clean-up  Week,  172 

Clinton,  Bishop  George  W.,  245 

Coates,  Mary  E.,  72 

Cole,  Annie  Russell,  279 

Collier,  Prof.  F.  S.,  142 

Commandant,  appointment  as,  131 

Cooper,  Annie  J.,  166 

Coppin,  Bishop  L.  J.,  177 

Corson,  Mr.  (Sup't.  Cumberland 
County  Schools),  93,  99 

Craddock,  Doctor,  5 

Crowder,  John,  6—13 

Cumberland  County,  79,  80,  99,  101, 

133 

Curtis,  George  L.,  52—3,  104,  135 
Curtis,  Mrs.  J.  L.,  262 

Dags,  Wm.  H.,  136 
Davis,  Miss  J.  E.,  71,  no 
DeFrantz,  F.  E.,  239 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  238 
Denny,  George,  30-1,  288 
Denny,  Rev.,  George  H.,  29-32 
Dillard,   Dr.   James   H.,   244,   272, 

274»  275 

DuBois,  Dr.  W.  E.  B.,  166,  253 
Dunbar,  Paul  Lawrence,  166 

Eagan,  John  J.,  280 
Early  Youth,  17 
Education,  14,  26,  36,  41,  148 
Educational  Conferences  at.  Hamp 
ton,  165 

Edwards,  Wm.  J.,  214 
Eggleston,  Dr.  J.  D.,  270 
Employment,  first,  17 
Erwin,  Judge  Frank  and  Son,  94-5 


European  Trip,  149 
Examination  for  Hampton,  52 
Examinations  for  bar,  95-98 

Farmville,  Va.,  22,  80,  82,  94,  108 
Father,  6,  13,  46,  70 
Fisher,  Isaac,  236,  280 
Fisk  University,  60,  153,  215 
Fitch,  F.  M.,  169 

Ford,  Miss,  later  Mrs.  Armstrong,  71 
Fortune,  T.  Thomas,  166 
Freeland,  Chas.  W.,  105-6,  122,  128, 

135 

Friday  Afternoon  Lectures,  92 
Frissell,  Dr.  H.  B.,  meeting  with, 
54;  prayer  on  first  Sunday  night, 
56;  Sunday-School  lessons  with 
Seniors,  107;  Principal  of  Hamp 
ton  Institute,  141;  suggests  my 
remaining  permanently  at  Hamp 
ton,  147;  with  quartette,  157; 
presides  at  Educational  Confer 
ences,  165;  attitude  of  coloured 
people,  168;  failing  health,  192; 
prayer  at  funeral  Doctor  Wash 
ington,  195;  discusses  Principal- 
ship  of  Tuskegee,  196-7;  death, 
230;  tribute  of  Doctor  Washing 
ton,  231;  tribute  to  Doctor  Wash 
ington,  23 1 

Gandy,  Prof.  J.  M.,  172,  220 
General  Education  Board,  270-2 
General  Miles  and  Paul  Natchee,  126 
Gibson,  Charles  H.,  226 
Graduates,  Tuskegee,  215 
Grant,  Bishop  Abraham,  272 
Greene,  C.  W.,  214 
Green,  Rev.  Anthony,  82 
Gregg,  Dr.  James  E.,  233 
Gresham,  Prof.  C.  N.,  166 
Grimke,  Dr.  A.  H.,  166 
Grimke,  Dr.  Francis,  166 


292 


INDEX 


Hall,  Dr.  George  C,  190 
Hamilton,  R.  M.,  215 
Hammond,  Mrs.  L.  H.,  278 
Hare,  C.  W.,  200,  214 
Harris,  Commissioner  T.  H.,  245 
Harris,  Elizabeth  Hunt,  168 
Harvard  Summer  School,  148 
Haynes,  Dr.  George  E.,  246-7 
Hembrick,  Eston,  83,  89,  100 
Henderson,  Governor  Charles,  210, 
221 

Holsey,  Albon  L.,  243 

Holtzclaw,  W.  H.,  214 

Hooper,  Ben,  36 

Hooper,  Ex-Governor  B.  W.,  279 

Hope,    Dr.    John,    236,    244,    261, 

280 

Hopkins,  Mark,  108 
Hotel,  Hygeia,  138 
House,  Col.  E.  M.,  251,  260 
Hov/ard,  Perry,  179 
Howard  University,  215 
Howe,  Albert,  93 
Hudson,  Prof.  R.  B.,  236,  280 
Hunt,  Nathan,  253,  254 
Hunton,  Mrs.  W.  A.,  262 

Imes,  Rev.  G.  Lake,  247 
Inaugural  Address,  210 
Indian  Students,  Contact  with,  123 
Indian  Characteristics,   143—146 

Jackson,  Edward  R.,  54 
James,  Arthur  Curtis,  148 
Jamestown     Presbyterian     Church, 

28,  30,  75 

Jeanes,  Anna  T.,  272 
Jeanes,  Anna  T.,  Foundation,  272 
Johnson,  Miss  Katharine,  262 
Jones,  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse,  244,  254 
Jones,  Dr.  M.  Ash  by,  280 
Jones,  Beverley,  16 


Kealing,  President  H.  T.,  210 
Kenney,  Dr.  John  A.,  190—193 
Knapp,  Dr.  Seaman  A.,  271 

Langston,  Hon.  John  M.,  36,  88 

Law  Studies,  94,  95—8,  132-142 

Lippman,  Capt  Walter,  260 

"Literary  Penitentiary,"  A,  164 

Little,  Dr.  John,  277 

Logan,  Adella  H.,  215 

Logan,  Warren,  214,  223—4 

Long,  Edgar  A.,  214 

Lord,  Dr.  John,  159 

Low,  Hon.  Seth,  198-201,  207,  224, 

229 

Low,  Mrs.  Seth,  227 
Lumber  Camp  experiences,  39—42 

Macedonia  Baptist  Church,  73,  74, 
81 

Mackie,  Mary  F.,  68,  100 

Mahone,  General,  36 

Mann,  Ex-Governor  W.  H.,  188, 
279 

Marriage,  168,  186 

Mason,  Mr.  Charles  E.,  198,  227 

Mason,  Mrs.  Charles  E.,  227 

Mastin,  Dr.  J.  T.,  174 

McAneny,  George,  273 

McCaslin,  Dr.  Robert  H.,  280 

McCulloch,  Dr.  J.  E.,  279 

Memorial  Fund  to  Doctor  Wash 
ington,  206 

Miller,  Kelley,  166 

Miles,  Gen.  Nelson  A.,  126-9 

Miller,  Clyde  R.,  253 

Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  C,  273 

Montgomery,  Isaiah  T.,  179 

Moreland,  Dr.  J.  E.,  244 

Morgan,  Gen.,  112 

Morrisette,  John,  26 

Morton,  Earnest,  30,  32,  35 

Morton,  J.  X.,  32,  35 


293 


INDEX 


Mother,  5-13,  46,  56,  74,  228 
Moton,  Jennie  D.,  186,  202,  228-9 
Mumford,  Mrs.  B.  B.,  270 
Murphy,  Edgar  Gardner,  270 
"My  Larger  Education,"  203 

Napier,  Hon.  J.  C,  273 
Natchee,  Paul,  126-9 
Negro  Conference  at  Tuskegee,  165 
Negroes'  Loyalty  in  War,  235 
Negro  Organization  Society  of  Va., 

172-8,  188,  197 
Negro  Press,  168,  248 
Night  School,  14 
Ninth  U.  S.  Coloured  Troops,  120 

Officers'   Training   Camp,    Ft.    Des 

Moines,  la.,  238,  240 
Ogden,  Mrs.  Robert  C.,  101 
Ogden,   Mr.   Robert   C.,    103,    122, 

148,  23 1,  270 
Oveltrea,  John  W.,  Chaplain,  622 

Pace,  Harry,  236,  280 

Page,  Dr.  Inman,  166 

Page,  Dr.  Walter  H.,  270 

Palmer,  Charlie,  85-9 

Palmer,  John  H.,  55,  144 

Parents,  marriage,  13 

"  Patrollers,"  7 

Patterson,  Thomas  B.,  58 

Peabody,  George  Foster,  239,  244, 
270 

Peabody,  Prof.  Francis  G.,  148 

Penn  School,  229 

Perkinson,  Miss  Pattie,  23,  25 

Perkinson,  Captain,  23 

Pershing,  General,  251,  257,  261 

Petersburg  School,  36,  39,  69 

Phases  of  work  touched  at  Hamp 
ton,  187 

Plantation  Songs,  57,  61,  93,  183, 
187 


"  Pleasant  Shade,"  17,  25,  288 
Politics,  42-6,  85 
Poteat,  Dr.  William  Louis,  280 
Pratt,  Capt.  Robert  H.,  122 
Prince  Edward  County,  6,   16,  40, 

108,  194 
Public  Schools,  26 

Ramsey,  Major  J.  B.,  226,  247 
Randolph,  Miss  Agnes,  174 
"Readjuster  Movement,"  40-3 
Reed,  Sam,  18,  287 
Religious  convictions,  37-8 
Religious  folk  songs,  57,  183 
Representation     in     War     Depart 
ment,  242 

Rice's  Depot,  33,49 
Robert  Hungerford  School,  190 
Roberts,  Dr.  Charles  H.,  189 
Roberts,  Dr.  E.  P.,  189,  193 
Robinson,  Judge,  C.  W.,  200 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  Jr.,  270 
Roman,  Dr.  C.  V.,  248 
Roosevelt,  Col.  Theodore,  198-9 
Rosenwald,  Julius,  190,  282,  286 
Rosenwald,  Mrs.  Julius,  227,  286 
Rosenwald  School  Building  Project, 
284 

Sailor  Creek,  31 

Saurez,  Miss  M.  E.,  47 

Scarborough,  President,  W.  S.,  166 

Schieffelin,  William  Jay,  227 

School,  first  day,  26 

Scott,    Emmett  J.,    190,    225,   242, 

245-7,  261 

Scott,  William  H.,  198 
Secret  Societies,  170,  171 
Sherman,  Miss  M.  J.,  72 
Simmons,  E.  P.,  179 
Slater,  John  F.,  Fund,  273 
Smith,  R.  L.,  273 
Southall,  Capt.  Frank,  37-8 


294 


INDEX 


Southall,  Dr.  J.  M.,  37 

Southern  Workman,  181 

Southern  Publicity  Committee,  278 

Southern  Sociological  Congress,  279 

Spurgeon,  James  R.,  113 

Steward,  Edw.  D.,  46 

Student  Army  Training  Corps,  249 

Surrey  County,  39 

Taft,  President  Wm.  H.,  273 
Taylor,  R.  R.,  225 
Teaching,  77—8,  82—101 
Tennessee  Coal  &  Iron  Co.,  282 
Thanksgiving  at  Cottontovvn,  90 
Tillinghast,  Mrs.  I.  N.,  100 
Tours    with    Doctor    Washington, 

178-186 

Trip  to  Europe,  148-152 
Trip  to  France,  250—265 
Trumbull,    Frank,     198,    201,    231, 

210 

Trustees,  Tuskegee  Board  of,   198, 

202,  22-7 

Trustees'  wives,  227 
Tulane,  Victor  H.,  201 
Turner,  Dr.  H.  P.,  149,  168 
Tuskegee,  62,  55,  132,  191,  198,  206, 

223-4,  227 
"Tuskegee  Spirit,  The,"  214,  219 

"Up  from  Slavery,"  69 

"Uncle  Remus,"  6 

University  Race  Commission,  276 

Vaughan,   "Mr.    Samuel,"    16,   22, 

24,  25,  28,  29,  32 
"Miss  Lucy,"  17,  18,  21,  22 
"Miss  Pattie,"  17 
"Miss  Jennie,"  17 
"Miss  Mollie,"  17,  22 
"Mr.  Willie,"  20,  75 


Villard,  Oswald  Garrison,  244 

Viny,  "Aunt,"  34 

Virginia  N.  &  I.  Institute,  36,  39, 

69, 172 
Virginia  Organization  Society,  172-8, 

188,  197 
Virginia  Polytechnic  Institute,  32,  33 

Wake  Forest  College,  280 

Walker,  T.  C.,  169 

Wallace,  Sec'y-,  262 

Walton,  Lester  A.,  253 

Walthall,  Mr.,  80 

Wanamaker,  John,  101-2,  122 

Ware,  President,  153 

Washburn,  Dr.,  112 

Washington,  Major  Allen,  144,  176, 

244 

Washington,  Mrs.  Booker  T.,  189, 
224 

Washington,  J.  H.,  214,  222 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  first  meet 
ing  with,  63 ;  General  Armstrong's 
introduction  and  prophecy,  6-;; 
speaks  at  Hampton,  65;  impres 
sion  on  students,  132;  cooperation 
with  Hampton,  160,  165,  231,  233; 
toursOklahoma,Miss.,and  Florida, 
178-186;  illness  in  New  York,  188; 
d~ath,  193;  funeral  services,  195; 
estimate  of  Major  Moton,  203; 
tribute  to  Doctor  Frissell,  231; 
tribute  of  Doctor  Frissell,  231; 
on  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Fund  Board, 
272,  and  Rosenwald  Fund,  284 

Weatherford,  Dr.  W.  D.,  276 

Westwood,  Wm.  T.,  67 

"Whispering  Gallery,"  in  France, 
252 

Whiting,  Joseph,  247,  262 

Wilborn,  A.  J.,  200 

Willcox,  Mrs.  William  G.,  227 

Wrillcox,  William  G.,  191,  198,  226 


295 


INDEX 

Williams  College,  158  Womack,  Colonel,  12 

Williams,  Dr.  Talcott,  273  Wright,  Prof.  R.  R.,  166 
Williams,  W.  T.  B.,  275 

Wilson,  Hon.  Wm.  L.,  270  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  France,  276 

Wilson,    President    Woodrow,  236,       Young,  Col.  Chas.,  239-40 

242,  250,  265  Young,  Prof.  N.  B.,  166 

Wilson,  Sec'y.  James,  246  Y.  W.  C.  A.  in  France,  278 


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